Let them carry on and God bless. This is the view of KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union (KZNRU) president Peter Hassard, who yesterday cocked a snook at some of the province’s black rugby officials who have threatened a breakaway union if their transformation and development concerns are ignored.C/O IOL

October 15 2010 at 09:30am

By Ayanda Mdluli & Bronwyn Gerretsen

The Transformation Committee Task Group issued a memorandum eight days ago, accusing the union of lacking in transformation, as well as mismanaging funds meant for development.

They gave the union until Wednesday this week to respond and threatened that failure to do so would result in the “immediate walkout of every black club, school, KZNRU players and representative and black officials within the KZNRU”.

Hassard denied the allegations yesterday, saying that the union provided adequate resources for development and that an audit was conducted every year. Black people were also elected to the union’s board, he said.

“We are not fraudulent. We conduct audits every year and the chairman of the development committee sits on the council. According to the government, we fulfil all transformation requirements.

“If they want to form their own breakaway union, let them carry on and God bless them. We have nothing to hide,” he said. In response, B Hlela, who sits on the union’s sub-committee for development, said Hassard’s comments were merely a reflection of how black people were treated at the union. “He should have said that at the meeting; it goes to show that they don’t listen to us. It is clear that he has made his decision.”

After receiving the memorandum last week, KZNRU chief executive Pete Smith sent a letter to the task group, requesting a meeting later this month.

He refused to comment yesterday on what the union’s standpoint would be, saying that it would not engage in such discussions through the media.

Martin Wiseman, a specialist appointed by the task group, warned that members would walk out of the meeting if none of their demands were met.

“We can’t be a part of something where we are outside looking in.”

Wiseman said the task group was expecting the union to table its statistics on what had been achieved in terms of transformation and development, and how it planned to put black people’s skills to use.

He added that the union should also be prepared to explain where and how money for development was spent.

According to Asad Bhorat, secretary of the Transformation and Anti-Racism Committee, the issues which have rocked KZN rugby are not new to the country.

It was indicative of a cycle which has been moving through the various provincial unions for the past three years, starting with the Golden Lions Rugby Union, he said.

“The controversy then hit Western Province, the Eastern Cape, and now KZN.

“The issues are all the same… There is a lot of window dressing in rugby and there are always knee-jerk responses. But a lot of the reaction happens after the horse has bolted.”

Bhorat said although a transformation charter in South African rugby was spoken of, it was not implemented.

“Show me one union that has adopted it… There is no vision for transformation in the country.”

But he said the issues would not be solved by forming breakaway unions – as had also been threatened at the Lions three years ago – but rather by changing the structures at SA Rugby.

“Previously advantaged” people were still holding the integral positions at SA Rugby and the unions, and the only way to ensure that the needs of black rugby players and stakeholders were met would be if they all got together and elected representatives to sit at the highest levels of SA Rugby, he said.

He said a “balance of power” was urgently needed, and that South African rugby was “staring down the barrel of a gun”.

“There are a lot of politicians and people high up who are not happy, and who are waiting for an issue like this to take action,” Bhorat said. – The Mercury