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Cape Town - Western Province president Thelo Wakefied and his KwaZulu-Natal contemporary Graham McKenzie have called for urgent action from the South African Rugby Union (SARU) regarding the Jurie Roux saga.
Roux, SARU’s CEO, has come under fire in recent weeks after it was reported that he “manipulated” financial management systems to favour the rugby programme during his time at Stellenbosch University.
He allegedly also benefited from bursaries he allocated to players when he was chairperson of the Maties Rugby Club.
The unauthorised payments are believed to be as much as R32m and Roux has been summoned to the Western Cape High Court to pay back the money.
Wakefield and McKenzie spoke too EWN Sport and called for urgent action from SARU president Oregan Hoskins regarding the matter.
“We have to rebuild the image of SARU, nationally and internationally, and the sooner we get to the bottom of this whole thing and we take decisive action on it the better for SARU,” said Wakefield.
Wakefield wants to see a president’s council meeting where SARU plays open cards with the unions.
“We can’t all lose our heads and run around like chickens in a chicken-run. We have to get direction, we have to go and sit down and discuss the matter, fully, get some sanity back and take an informed decision on what the road ahead is all about.”
McKenzie agreed with Wakefield’s sentiments.
“I do think that SA Rugby needs to come together, show some leadership and make rugby decisions to ensure that the reputational risk to the brand isn’t any worse than it currently is,” he said.
