Rugby player Luke Watson has hired a heavyweight advocate — whose clients have included Nelson Mandela — to represent him at an SA Rugby disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, Beeld reports.
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett will represent the Western Province loose forward, who is in the hot water for allegedly saying he wanted to vomit on the Springbok jersey and for allegedly calling Afrikaners ”Dutchmen”.
Beeld reported that Gauntlett’s services are believed to cost about R30 000 per day.
Gauntlett has, among others, represented former president Mandela in the past, said Beeld.
He also acted for Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change when it opposed Robert Mugabe’s victory in presidential elections in 2002.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) had appointed Dekker Govender as the judicial officer to investigate the claims against Watson.
Govender referred the case to Judge Lex Mpati, the chairperson of Saru’s judicial committee, after he found that Saru’s code of conduct may have been violated.
The hearing will be held on Tuesday morning at Saru’s office at Newlands, Cape Town. — Sapa