The South African Rugby Union (SARU) announced on Wednesday that it had assumed control of the financial and administrative affairs of the Border Rugby Football Union, following a resolution by the Union’s executive.

The union handed over control to SARU to allow Border’s operations to be normalised. No time limit has been put on SARU’s control. The decision was taken in November at SARU’s request.

The impact of the decision is that only SARU personnel will have signing powers on Border’s accounts. Monde Tabata, an East London-based member of the SARU Executive Council (Exco), has been confirmed as the Union’s administrator.

Mr Tabata has assisted Border for a number of months in an advisory role at the direction of the SARU Exco.

“The Border executive agreed to SARU taking control at our request,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU.

“It is not SARU’s role to run member federations and it is something that the Exco would only consider as a last resort. That point had been reached with Border and we pointed that out to their executive, who agreed to hand over the management of the union to SARU.

“The Union faces severe financial issues due to a number of historical factors and on on-going management challenges. We have put in place a number of checks and balances – all in the hands of SARU officials – to assist the Union in regularising its affairs.

“Our sole aim is to ensure that rugby at all levels in Border is restored to a sound footing and once again makes a positive contribution to the game in South Africa as a whole.”

Roux said that SARU would return control of the Union’s affairs to Border officials once that had been achieved.