Former Springbok communications manager Mark Keohane says he is disappointed that the King probe into his claims of racism in the Bok camp has been postponed.
”I find the decision to delay the investigation until after the World Cup incredibly disappointing,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
”However, the postponement is something that is beyond my control. I have no option but to accept and respect the decision.”
The South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) announced on Tuesday evening that the inquiry, which has been stalled by controversy over media coverage and legal representation, would resume only next year.
This was so that the Springboks could prepare unburdened for the Rugby World Cup in Australia next month.
Sarfu also widened former judge Edwin King’s brief to include all tiers of rugby from club level upwards.
Sarfu appointed King to lead the inquiry last week after white player Geo Cronje was expelled from a World Cup training camp for allegedly refusing to share a room with his black teammate Quinton Davids.
The inquiry was to focus on a report by Keohane, who resigned last Tuesday after a Sarfu inquiry found there was no conclusive evidence that Cronje was guilty of racism.
Keohane said on Wednesday he ”eagerly” awaited an opportunity to contribute to the investigation.
He also said he had no regrets about his decision to resign from the Springbok management, and wanted to thank SA Rugby MD Rian Oberholzer for having ”the integrity and honesty” to publicly confirm his job had never been under threat.
Earlier on Wednesday King said the postponement was a good idea.
”I’m fully supportive. It’s a sensible thing to have done,” he said.
King said he had in fact raised with Sarfu the possibility of postponing the probe, which the rugby union had hoped would be completed before the Bok squad left for Australia.
He said it had seemed to him that conducting his investigation in such a short time frame and coming up with a ”possibly half-baked report” before the team left would have done more harm than good, and would have been disruptive.
He said the extension of the terms of reference meant the inquiry would be wider ”and presumably one would like to think, more valuable”.
”Once one is making an investigation, you want to investigate the whole spectrum,” he said.
He said the extended brief would take longer to deal with … ”a goodly number of weeks, amounting to months”.
He was unsure whether his two co-panellists, University of Stellenbosch deputy principal Julian Smith and Cape Town advocate Nona Gosa, would still be available. — Sapa