Ashwin sticks to his guns
Ex-Bok now considering heading to Equality Court
FORMER Bok wing Ashwin Willemse, who, as a rugby analyst, left the SuperSport studio in a huff after a verbal altercation with fellow in-studio analysts Nick Mallett and Naas Botha, is heading to the Equality Court.
This after an independent inquiry into the matter, led by advocate Vincent Maleka, found no evidence of racism on the day when Willemse staged a walkout following the Super Rugby match between the Lions and Brumbies.
While Mallett and Botha were cleared of racism by the Maleka inquiry, Willemse remained adamant that the incident was rooted in racism. He opted not to participate in the inquiry because, according to his lawyer, Nqobizitha Mlilo, the process was flawed and the forum inappropriate.
“The individual interviews that were conducted by Maleka could not be tested and that is not an appropriate process to follow,” said Mlilo yesterday.
“To participate in that process would be fruitless. There is no value in the findings without Mr Willemse’s evidence. The only place where we can test the evidence and cross-examine the individuals’ versions is at the Equality Court and we are in the process of finalising our documentation.”
Mlilo, however, made it clear that Willemse was open for discussions with SuperSport, and this would determine their next step.
“Ashwin is an independent contractor and not an employee of SuperSport and his participation in the inquiry was voluntary from the beginning. He is, however, willing to speak to them and if the process yields something positive, then that will be the end of the matter. If nothing comes of it, we will go ahead and approach the Equality Court.”
Mlilo said the appointment of Maleka to look into the incident, days after Willemse had claimed racism was at play on the day (May 19), was done to “clean up” the mess.
SuperSport chief executive Gideon Khobane and MultiChoice chief executive Calvo Mawela had stated publicly two days after the incident, following an internal review and interviews with all the role-players, that there was no evidence that racism led to the incident.
However, Maleka noted in his report that the statement the two chief executives put out, with their finding of “no racism”, was objected to, in part, by Willemse.
For the next three days Willemse met the two and indicated there was racism, which led to the incident, and then it was decided to institute the review. While the interviews conducted by Maleka led him to conclude there was no evidence of racism, he found Willemse may have perceived and believed the conduct of Mallett and Botha was motivated by racism.
Mlilo said the walkout was the straw that broke the camel’s back and what had happened on May 19 was “not a new issue”. “There’s a long history… you can’t only use one day’s incident to determine whether racism was at play or not.”
Maleka found SuperSport was aware of the tension between Willemse and Mallett, yet wanted them in the studio together, despite objections made by Mallett. The former Bok boss had, in an email, requested that he and Willemse not work together because they “irritated the hell out of each other”.
While SuperSport said on Tuesday that they were disappointed that Willemse hadn’t participated in the Maleka review, they respected his right not to.
“In the spirit of reconciliation, I will make another attempt to reach out to Ashwin for us to find an acceptable way forward so that he knows that this issue has been fairly investigated,” said Khobane.
THE story of Ashwin Willemse is the stuff of legend. He was two when his dad walked out of the home, and Willemse was brought up by his mother and grandparents.
The family lived on the outskirts of Cape Town where life was tough and money was scarce.
Not surprisingly, Willemse did what most young men around him did – he joined a gang and became a drug mule. At the age of 16, Willemse tried to kill himself.
When he woke up in hospital, his rugby coach and team-mates were at his bedside, and this support proved to be a turning point in his life.
There were other moments that also shaped his life. One of them was when Springbok legend Breyton Paulse visited Willemse’s school.
Clearly touched by Willemse’s plight, Paulse sent him a gift in the post a few days later: boots, training kit and money. Paulse clearly didn’t realise the impact he had made.
Five years later, as Paulse celebrated his 50th Springbok cap in a match against Ireland, Willemse was his team-mate on the other wing.
After a relatively short stint at international level, Willemse retired in 2009 at the age of 27.
He had played only 19 times for South Africa, but in that short time he made an impact, becoming Player of the Year in 2003.