Former Boks wing taking racism claims to court
Former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse plans to take his claims of racism at South African pay TV channel SuperSport to the country’s Equality Court.
This follows his walkout on live TV on May 19, accusing fellow presenters Naas Botha and Nick Mallett of patronising him. The incident sparked a racial debate in South Africa, particularly over claims Willemse had been belittled before on screen.
Yesterday, SuperSport released the findings of an independent
And the reality for McKenzie is that he is, indeed, going to have to do a great job to stay ahead of Mo’unga in the All Blacks’ pecking order.
He was handed a tough assignment last week in Wellington, injected into the game after just 12 minutes behind an All Blacks pack that was failing to deliver the right attacking platform. There was also a mindset among his peers that they needed to push the ball wide quickly to exploit the numerical advantage they held as a result of France having been shown a red card.
As much as there were mitigating circumstances, McKenzie contributed to some of the All Blacks’ untidiness and uncertainty by not delivering the desired sort of authoritative game management the coaches were looking for.
Having played so much of his review into the matter in which it said no racism had been involved. SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane said Willemse had opted to not take part in the review.
It was reported in yesterday’s Cape Town newspaper Die Burger that, despite Willemse’s unwillingness to take part in the review, he had in a meeting with Khobane and Calvo Mawela, managing director of pay TV operator MultiChoice, said he did not think former Springboks great Botha and former Springbok coach Mallet were racists and that he was prepared to continue working with them.
The author of the independent report, Vincent Maleka, said he had no doubt about the authenticity of the conversation. However, Willemse changed his view and, in subsequent meetings with management, said he did think racism was a factor. The report quoted Mallett as saying he had preferred Willemse being moved from the SuperSport set so they did not have to work together. “I think he talks garbage, we irritate the hell out of each other and the working environment is just unpleasant and tense.”
Willemse’s lawyer, Nqobizitha Mlilo, said a legal document was being being prepared to tender to the Equality Court. She said the SuperSport’s report was a one-sided attempt at damage control.
The Equality Court was created in South Africa’s new constitution in 1996 as a tool for eliminating unfair discrimination, infringements of the right to equality and hate speech.