Former Springbok Lawrence Sephaka says that although the South African Rugby Union (Saru) seems to have the right idea in terms of stopping racism in the predominantly white sport, there is still a lot that needs to be done.
"Rugby; it comes from a difficult place," he told HuffPost on Monday. "It was also known as a white sport; Afrikaans white. On paper, [Saru] are putting all the right things out there to say. They do not promote racism in rugby — but as to [whether] they are doing enough, is questionable."
Sephaka was speaking after a public spat between former Boks, now studio analysts Ashwin Willemse, Naas Botha and Nick Mallett. Willemse walked out during a live SuperSport broadcast on Saturday.
Willemse apparently took objection to the term "quota player" and accused Mallett and Botha — two players, as he put it, from the "apartheid, segregated era" — of "patronising" and "undermining" him.
Sephaka said that if the union was really serious about preventing racism, they would not allow racists to be part of the rugby fraternity.
"If they were doing so much, people who are racist by nature would not have [any] chance of blowing up in rugby — if it was that stringent," he said.
"The mere fact that he [Willemse] was not happy to be called a quota; he has valid grounds."
Regarding the incident with Willemse, he has no knowledge of what transpired between the three men, he said. However, "it is probably something which took a while for [Willemse to become upset about], because he is a very calm person by nature.
"That whole emotion is something that has been building up for a while. I don't know what happened and when it happened, how it happened, but the mere fact that [Willemse] was not happy to be called a quota; he has valid grounds," he added, referencing Willemse's stellar career that was most certainly merit-based.
The Saru Sacos Legends released a statement in support of Willemse.
"What Ashwin has done in bringing this into the public domain in the way he did was thus long in the making, when he simply verbalised the utter frustrations of our continued marginalisation. He conducted himself with aplomb, in a cool and calm demeanour, and hoodwinked his co-presenters.
"We wish to convey our unequivocal support to Ashwin for his bold action, for this should be the rallying call for all of us who fought hard and long for a country based on justice and equality for all."
Saru had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication. Read SuperSport's full statement on the incident here.