Most of South Africa’s 14 provincial rugby presidents jetted into Johannesburg International airport on Monday to attend an urgent meeting at Ellis Park stadium as a cloud of uncertainty descended over the whole power-struggle saga.
The meeting was hastily called by South African Rugby Union (Saru) president Brian van Rooyen late on Sunday night following weekend disclosures that a dossier had been compiled, of alleged irregularities in Van Rooyen’s running of the game, by Saru deputy president Andre Markgraaff and his supporters.
Markgraaff and Saru vice-president Mike Stofile have not been invited to the meeting, which will reportedly deal with the contents of the 14-page dossier.
The dossier apparently includes details of the signing of an agreement for the Rainbow Cup competition without proper authorisation, as well as irregularities involving the awarding of South Africa’s fifth Super 14 franchise to the Central Region instead of the Port Elizabeth-based franchise.
Markgraaff alleged that Van Rooyen also, without the knowledge of members of his management, closed a ”secret alliance” with the former MD of SA Rugby, Rian Oberholzer. He apparently appointed Oberholzer as a member of the bid commission for the 2011 World Rugby Cup at a salary of R100 000 a month.
Meanwhile, in a further twist, KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins refuted a Monday newspaper report that had him saying that Van Rooyen had indeed sought the proper authorisation from the president’s council relating to the two burning issues.
”I haven’t even seen the dossier [from Markgraaff]. Both issues were raised at previous president’s council meetings, but I cannot recall the exact details,” said Hoskins on Monday afternoon. ”I would need to consult the minutes of that meeting and I have not yet been able to do that.”
Hoskins is part of the Saru audit committee that is investigation the allegations against a number of the hierarchy of SA Rugby.
”For that reason,” Hoskins implored, ”it would be wrong of me to take sides.”
According to Hoskins, the report painted a false picture that put him squarely behind Van Rooyen.
”I’m not interested in taking sides. This is extremely sensitive and I want to be able to make a fair assessment of those allegations.”
Hoskins was unable to attend Monday’s meeting ”due to work commitments”.
”I only received an SMS at about 10.30pm last night and I was unable to make arrangements to get to Johannesburg,” he said.
Other allegations in the Markgraaff dossier:
- Van Rooyen, without Saru’s knowledge, closed a contract with Global Sports Management to clinch the Rainbow Cup competition — in which South African provincial teams would have played against British rugby clubs.
- The South African negotiator was allegedly an entity called Premier Rugby Limited. Markgraaff said he had never heard of the company.
- Van Rooyen also closed a contract with Accelerate Sport for the marketing rights of the Rainbow Cup. After negotiations fell through, Accelerate was also involved in negotiations for the so-called Celtic competition, a tournament between South African, Irish, Welsh and Scottish clubs. A big commission was allegedly involved.
- Van Rooyen paid R92 000 without authorisation for an overseas trip for a member of the Super 14 bid committee and his wife.
- Van Rooyen tried secretly to gain support from certain rugby bosses for a discretionary fund of R5-million that would have enabled him to establish an office in Johannesburg.
The meeting on Monday is the latest twist in the ongoing epic that is expected to see Van Rooyen respond to these allegations.
A source at SA Rugby would reveal neither which presidents would be present, nor who had been invited, but it seems Van Rooyen is galvanising his support base (the so-called smaller unions) for what promises to be an intense fight for the leadership of the sport in this country.
How the saga has unfolded
A timeline of how the Saru saga has unfolded in the past fortnight:
Wednesday May 11: The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee holds crisis talks with Saru and order it to convene an urgent special general council meeting, at which the composition of the senior office-bearers of SA Rugby will be reviewed. This is expected to take place within 10 days.
Sunday May 15: Markgraaff and supporters — vice-president Mike Stofile, management committee chairperson Theunie Lategan, Western Province president Koos Basson and Blue Bulls president Dolf van Huyssteen — claim Van Rooyen ”altered” a media release to avoid news getting out that the five rebels want him investigated for ”bad corporate governance and mismanagement”. This accusation is mainly in relation to Van Rooyen unilaterally awarding Oberholzer the rights to act as an agent for Saru in negotiations to arrange the new Rainbow Cup competition.
Monday May 16: Van Rooyen counters with a report that suggests Markgraaff was trying to negotiate a series with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) without the knowledge of Saru. Van Rooyen backs his claims up with a suggestion that he has documentation from WRU manager Steve Lewis to corroborate this claim.
Monday May 16: Reports that lawyers in both Cape Town and Cardiff are preparing documents in order to take legal steps against Van Rooyen surface. Cape Town-based Afrikaans daily Die Burger reports that legal representatives of Markgraaff and Lewis threatened Van Rooyen with legal steps because he accused them of collaborating behind his back.
Tuesday May 17: Meanwhile, the government is reported to want to flex its muscles in the ongoing leadership struggle in rugby. It is reported that Parliament is now directly intervening in the controversial Super 14 saga — which has been put on the back burner because of the power struggles in Saru, but is ultimately one of the key issues surrounding the spat.
Wednesday May 18: Two dates, June 17 and 20, are proposed as D-Day for election. This comes after at least eight provincial presidents supported the proposal of a special general meeting put forward by the president. The date for the meeting is later confirmed as Friday June 17, the day before the Springboks’ first Test against France.
Friday May 20: The Central franchise, originally awarded the fifth South African Super 14 spot, is going full steam ahead in planning for next season, ignoring the fracas that is splitting SA Rugby in two. The two burning issues that will come to a head in coming weeks are the Rainbow Cup saga and the franchise squabble.
Sunday May 22: Weekend newspaper reports disclose that a dossier has been compiled of alleged irregularities in Van Rooyen’s running of the game by Markgraaff and company. It apparently includes details of the signing of an agreement for the Rainbow Cup competition without proper authorisation.
Monday May 23: Van Rooyen calls the country’s 14 provincial rugby presidents to an urgent meeting in Johannesburg as a cloud of uncertainty descends over the whole sorry mess. Markgraaff and Stofile have not been invited to the meeting, which will, reportedly deal with the contents of the 14-page dossier. — Sapa