Thuli joins scrum over Ashwin saga
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has weighed in on the circumstances surrounding Ashwin Willemse’s widely publicised walkout from a live TV broadcast last month.
She said the approach chosen by SuperSport to deal with the matter had been destined to fail.
The pay channel said on Tuesday that an investigation into the May 19 incident by Advocate Vincent Maleka had cleared Willemse’s fellow rugby analysts, Nick Mallett and Naas Botha, of racism.
In a social media post that sparked fierce debate yesterday morning‚ Madonsela said: “I said from the outset that the approach chosen by @SuperSportTV was destined to fail as a law and rights approach was never the issue while affirming and managing diversity was.
“#AshwinWillemse. The search [for] a guilty party guilty of racism was in itself a wrong starting point.”
Willemse confirmed through his legal representatives yesterday that he would approach the Equality Court for relief following the independent inquiry which cleared Botha and Mallett.
SuperSport pulled the three presenters off air while Maleka investigated the incident.
It said on Tuesday that Mallett and Botha would return to work in due course.
The channel said Willemse’s contract was still valid and it would reach out to him to understand his point of view.
But Willemse’s attorney, Nqobizitha Mlilo, said yesterday: “The report by Advocate Maleka SC is irredeemably flawed both conceptually and on application of basic principles of law.”
He said Willemse maintained that this issue was deeply rooted in racism.
“This is the culmination of a number of incidents.”
Mlilo said Willemse had not taken part in the inquiry because he believed it had a predetermined outcome.
At Maleka’s suggestion‚ made public when he released his findings, SuperSport will also refer the report to the SA Human Rights Commission “for final resolution”.
Here are three things you might have missed in Maleka’s report:
SuperSport prefers that black analysts operate the touch screen‚ because of its “sophistication” and to “undermine the publicly held view that they do not have the technical skillset or craft to operate sophisticated equipment such as the touchscreen”.
Maleka said, however, the layout of the studio created the impression that the black analyst operated on the instruction of the other analysts.
“There is a need to avoid the above silent messages without dispensing with the use of the touchscreen. That can be done by rotating the touchscreen operators across the colour line.”
Mallet told SuperSport he preferred not to work with Willemse. The report quotes an e-mail Mallet sent to executive producer Scott Steward on October 6 2016‚ in which he said it would be “great” if the “complex” Willemse were moved to the morning show.
“I think he talks garbage‚ we irritate the hell out of each other and the working environment is just unpleasant and tense,” he wrote further.
Mallet corrected Willemse‚ Botha and other colleagues’ use of English.
Maleka said in his report: “Mallet accepted that he corrected Willemse’s use of English on one occasion.
“He indicated that it is not unusual as he adopts the same stance in respect of other fellow commentators across the colour line.”