Rugby racism slammed

THE Rugby World Cup ticket sale scandal was an “unacceptable and unethical incident”, and racism and hate speech uttered by a top sports official was also not acceptable, the Minister of Sport told Parliament yesterday.

Minister John Mutorwa was answering questions posed by Jurie Viljoen of the Monitor Action Group (MAG). Viljoen had asked if statements made by rugby boss Dirk Conradie during a radio programme on September 19 were in order.According to the MAG politician, Conradie said that he would never “allow a white man to be part of the Namibia Rugby Union management”.Viljoen further alleged that Conradie had implied this was a punitive action against whites for wrongs done in the past.Minister Mutorwa said yesterday that “in terms of Namibia’s policies and laws, hate speech and racial remarks are not acceptable, irrespective of who makes such remarks”.”Anybody aggrieved by such remarks could take this up with the Office of the Ombudsman,” the Minister told Viljoen.Returning to the rugby ticket scandal, Mutorwa quoted from the International Rugby Board Appeal Committee’s decision: “The plain fact is, we (IRB) are completely satisfied as from about the end of May 2007 that the Namibia Rugby Union knew a sale of tickets to M and L was taking place, which was in flagrant breach of conditions.They did nothing and would have done nothing without the intervention of this process.”The statements of the IRB Appeal Committee were “a serious indictment and rebuke of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) leadership”, the Minister stated.”No amount of screaming the word ‘racism’ by the NRU president and his colleagues can and will erase this fact,” he added.”My Ministry nevertheless applauds Mr Conradie that at least he eventually made a public apology for some of the unwarranted and undignified utterances and remarks he made.I request all who were or are offended to accept that apology.”CONRADIE’S APOLOGY In a press release issued on September 27, Conradie said: “I would like to hereby unconditionally apologise to all Namibians, and all rugby loving Namibians in particular, for all the embarrassment that was or may have been caused as a result of the recent attempted sale of Rugby World Cup tickets to a company in South Africa.”I can promise you that [neither] the Namibian Rugby Union [nor] any members of the Union, including Pieter Fick, received a single sent as a result of this transaction.”The total of the money paid has since been refunded to all concerned.I would further like to apologise, in my personal capacity, to all my white Namibian compatriots for the hurt that I may have caused them as a result of any discriminatory utterances made by myself recently, and finally I would like to apologise to those persons whom I may have hurt as a result of any of my actions.”I further want to state that I shall under no circumstances cowardly relinquish my responsibilities I have with the Namibia Rugby Union.I shall take my leave at the right time, maybe sooner rather than later and at the right forum.”Viljoen had asked if statements made by rugby boss Dirk Conradie during a radio programme on September 19 were in order.According to the MAG politician, Conradie said that he would never “allow a white man to be part of the Namibia Rugby Union management”.Viljoen further alleged that Conradie had implied this was a punitive action against whites for wrongs done in the past. Minister Mutorwa said yesterday that “in terms of Namibia’s policies and laws, hate speech and racial remarks are not acceptable, irrespective of who makes such remarks”.”Anybody aggrieved by such remarks could take this up with the Office of the Ombudsman,” the Minister told Viljoen.Returning to the rugby ticket scandal, Mutorwa quoted from the International Rugby Board Appeal Committee’s decision: “The plain fact is, we (IRB) are completely satisfied as from about the end of May 2007 that the Namibia Rugby Union knew a sale of tickets to M and L was taking place, which was in flagrant breach of conditions.They did nothing and would have done nothing without the intervention of this process.”The statements of the IRB Appeal Committee were “a serious indictment and rebuke of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) leadership”, the Minister stated.”No amount of screaming the word ‘racism’ by the NRU president and his colleagues can and will erase this fact,” he added.”My Ministry nevertheless applauds Mr Conradie that at least he eventually made a public apology for some of the unwarranted and undignified utterances and remarks he made.I request all who were or are offended to accept that apology.”CONRADIE’S APOLOGY In a press release issued on September 27, Conradie said: “I would like to hereby unconditionally apologise to all Namibians, and all rugby loving Namibians in particular, for all the embarrassment that was or may have been caused as a result of the recent attempted sale of Rugby World Cup tickets to a company in South Africa.”I can promise you that [neither] the Namibian Rugby Union [nor] any members of the Union, including Pieter Fick, received a single sent as a result of this transaction.”The total of the money paid has since been refunded to all concerned.I would further like to apologise, in my personal capacity, to all my white Namibian compatriots for the hurt that I may have caused them as a result of any discriminatory utterances made by myself recently, and finally I would like to apologise to those persons whom I may have hurt as a result of any of my actions.”I further want to state that I shall under no circumstances cowardly relinquish my responsibilities I have with the Namibia Rugby Union.I shall take my leave at the right time, maybe sooner rather than later and at the right forum.”