Gustav Thiel=20
A FIGHT for control over Western Province=20 cricket has degenerated into accusations of=20 drunkenness and racism, with a senior=20 cricket official and judicial officer=20 telling sports commentator Martin Locke to=20 ”fuck off back to Rhodesia”.
Percy Sonn, vice-president of the Western=20 Province Cricket Association, was censured=20 two weeks ago by his executive for his=20 allegedly abusive language and disorderly=20 behaviour at post-match functions.=20
Sonn, who is deputy attorney general of the=20 Western Cape and a powerful political=20 figure, had been tipped to take over the=20 association’s presidency in June when=20 incumbent Clem Druker steps down.=20
But senior members of the province’s=20 cricketing fraternity, who refused to=20 comment on the record, said Sonn’s=20 behaviour should scupper his candidacy.=20
They said his unruly behaviour has damaged=20 his reputation and hampered his ability to=20 represent the cricketing fraternity.
Sonn has admitted that he has, on occasion,=20 drunk excessive amounts of alcohol but said=20 ”elements in the executive” were trying to=20 discredit him.=20
”The white English people on the executive=20 live in England and not in the Cape and=20 should return there because they can’t=20 handle a coloured person as president,” he=20 said.=20
”Elements on the executive are out to get=20 me, but if they stab me in the back I will=20 stab them in the stomach.”
Sonn declined to detail the motion to=20 censure him, saying only its contents would=20 ”make a lot of people’s hair stand on end”.=20
He defended his tendency to ”get drunk from=20 time to time … since drinking is so much=20 part of the culture of my people”.
Sonn said the ”specific instance where=20 people thought I had misbehaved” was when=20 he approached Locke at a function following=20 the third day of the recent test match=20 against India.=20
”I have a definite axe to grind about these=20 foreign commentators who invade our=20 airwaves,” he said. ”After a few drinks=20 with some press men I told Locke to fuck=20 off back to Rhodesia and he didn’t take=20 kindly to this.
”There were a few ladies present who might=20 have taken offence to my words. I don’t=20 know.”
The association’s chief executive Arthur=20 Turner declined to comment, but Druker said=20 he believed Sonn would be a capable=20 president.