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Huge suspension handed out as another racism storm rocks South African rugby

While the spotlight was on Springbok Ashwin Willemse’s infamous walk-out of a TV studio at the weekend, another incident almost slipped under the radar.

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Western Province Rugby Union vice-president Gerald Njengele has been suspended for four years, for his alleged racial outburst at the Cape Town leg of the Sevens World Series last year.

WPRU President Thelo Wakefield confirmed the news to Rugby365.com that Njengele was slapped with the ban for breaking the union’s code of ethics.

Wakefield declined to elaborate, saying they regard the matter as ‘sub judice’, because Njengele is appealing the decision.

Reports of the incident first surfaced after the Cape Town Sevens on the weekend of December 9 and 10 last year.

According to media reports at the time, Njengele launched a scathing verbal and racial attack on Jessie Claassen, who is the national manager of the Vuka Rugby Programme – a South African Rugby Union-affiliated initiative that aims to cater for development in the poorer areas of the country.

Claassen said that the attack stemmed from his decision not to shake Njengele’s hand due to a previous altercation between the pair last August.

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When this happened, Njengele allegedly responded: “F**k you white people, f**k the coloureds. I’m a clever darkie. I don’t need your f*****g money.”

Njengele denied he made the comments, but was still found guilty and banned.

Njengele’s sanction comes just days after Ashwin Willemse, dramatically removed his microphone and walked off, live on air, while having been afforded an opportunity to air his opinion after the Super Rugby encounter between the Lions and Brumbies in Johannesburg at the weekend.

The dramatic scenes, caught on camera, show Willemse storm out of their studio, despite being live on air.

Willemse – who won 19 caps for the Springboks – spoke to camera regarding how he was perceived as a “quota player” during his playing days and that he refused to be ‘patronised’ – before dramatically walking off the set.

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His grievance appeared to be directed at fellow pundits Nick Mallett and Naas Botha – who he referred to as “apartheid era” players. The incident has elicited strong reactions, with heavy racial undertones.

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A media release issued by SuperSport on Tuesday said the trio were locked in “robust discussions” for most of the day, with SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane and MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela.

According to Khobane and Mawela, there was “no racism” at play when Willemse walked out of the studio at the weekend.

“What is encouraging with the discussions, we’ve had, is that Nick [Mallet], Naas [Botha], and also Ashwin [Willemse], were part of the discussions,” Mawela told a media briefing.

“They were all in the same room; they were courteous to each other; they shook hands; they openly [chatted].

“There is no animosity that exists between the three of them from what we could see today,” Mawela added.

The SuperSport CEO, Khobane, said they did not intend sweeping anything under the carpet and would instead deal with the issue fairly.

“This has become a national issue. We at SuperSport and MultiChoice treat this issue with all the seriousness it deserves,” he said. “We’ve had very robust discussions today from 7 o’clock this morning with all the role players involved. We recognise that we need further engagements,” he added.

“We are positive that this was not a racially motivated issue because all parties were very courteous during our discussions that started this morning‚” Khobane said.

In a media release, it was revealed that the trio will all three resume duties. It is basically ‘business as usual’.

“There was a significant move in the parties finding common ground,” the statement said. “This is merely the first stage of the process to address the issues raised by the weekend’s events.”

This could make for some fantastic and incredibly awkward television.

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JW 42 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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