Ashwin Willemse
SuperSport is reportedly close to finalising its investigation into a letter received from four disgruntled employees towards the end of last month.
According to the Sunday Times, presenters Xola Ntshinga, Gcobani Bobo, Owen Nkumane and Kaunda Ntunja sent a letter through their attorneys to SuperSport in which they expressed concerns over their working environment.
Issues of pay, alleged victimisation and intimidation, and the fact that certain analyst roles were ‘reserved for non-white pundits’ were all raised in the letter.
Sport24 attempted on Monday to contact all four of the presenters, but they either could not be reached for comment or were not prepared to comment.
READ MORE: No racism in Willemse walk-out, says SuperSport
However, it did become clear that the feeling was that media reports had blown the letter out of proportion and that a labour issue had been turned into a race issue.
Netwerk24, meanwhile, reported that SuperSport is nearing the end of its investigation and a statement is expected soon.
The Afrikaans website also revealed that the letter in question was sent to SuperSport towards the end of May, meaning it came mere days after the highly-publicised Ashwin Willemse studio walkout on May 19.
Willemse created a storm when he accused fellow SuperSport analysts Nick Mallett and Naas Botha of patronising and undermining him before walking off a live broadcast.
Willemse maintains that the entire incident was fuelled by racism and according to his legal team, will be taking SuperSport to the Equality Court. — Sport24