The president’s council of the South African Rugby Union (Saru) on Friday decided to accept the recommendations of the Brandt-Heunis report into the affairs of rugby with immediate effect.
Saru president Brian van Rooyen said the main recommendations of the report will be put into effect immediately. The recommendations concern the governance structures of South African rugby.
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen, who attended the special president’s council meeting, told journalists that the report will be sent to his department on Monday.
”If there are any other complaints or allegations to be raised, these must be submitted, with written evidence, within the next 14 days, to the compilers of the report, Adri Brandt and Jan Heunis of the law firm De Klerk and Van Gent,” said Oosthuizen.
”Once these have been received, the lawyers, in conjunction with the sports ministry, will implement an independent investigation into the affairs of rugby.”
Oosthuizen said he hopes this will bring to an end the allegations and rumour-mongering that have been plaguing the sport.
People who have been accused of misconduct will be given an opportunity to reply and state their case.
Minister issues ultimatum
Earlier on Friday, Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile issued an ultimatum to Saru, saying it had to sort out its problems by noon on Monday or the government would step in and take over.
Stofile left the Saru president’s council meeting at lunchtime, after laying down the law to the rugby bosses. He said he had told them that they must restore the integrity of rugby, and put an end to the emotional upheaval in rugby in South Africa.
”This is the ninth time that the government has had to intervene in the affairs of rugby,” he said. ”I hope this is the last time. As far as there are allegations of misdemeanours, they must take responsible and appropriate decisions. If they can’t do that, then the government must take over.
”I have given them until Monday to inform me of their decision,” added the minister. ”We can’t allow them to go it alone. We allowed them to do so in the past, and they were unable to. We want to work with them and sort out their problems. If they don’t want to fix things with us, then we must go and fix things ourselves.
”This all affects our integrity. We have applied to host the Rugby World Cup in 2011, and we must be able to reassure the international rugby community that South Africa is capable of doing things right.” — Sapa