FILE - The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton Mckenzie, front, celebrates with the Springboks after they won the Rugby Championship. FILE - The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton Mckenzie, front, celebrates with the Springboks after they won the Rugby Championship. Picture: Phill Magakoe / AFP
The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has sent an open letter to SA Rugby president Mark Alexander, asking him to postpone Thursday’s vote on the equity deal with US-based Ackerley Sports Group (ASG).
Alexander has called a special general council meeting where the unions and Saru will vote on the proposed R1.3 billion deal with ASG.
The deal is already in jeopardy after seven of the 14 unions on Monday sent a letter to Alexander and CEO Rian Oberholzer to postpone the meeting, citing come concerns. SA Rugby needs the support of 75% of unions for the ASG deal to be pushed through.
SA Rugby, the custodians of the Springboks, sent out an explainer about the proposed deal on Tuesday after that letter was leaked. The meeting is set to go ahead despite the protestations of the Lions, Sharks, Blue Bulls, Western Province, Free State Cheetahs, Griquas and Boland, who undersigned the letter.
However, McKenzie has now got involved, asking for meeting to be postponed.
The minister wants to “be fully apprised of the particulars surrounding this proposed deal, or any deal that may be agreed to through your structures”.
"Dear President Alexander, I trust you and your team are well amid the enormous interest and scrutiny that is currently being brought to bear on the pending commercial decisions at SARU.
"Let me start off by thanking you for our previous engagements and your assurance to me that the stake in the SARU Commercial Rights Company to Ackerley Sports Group will not exclude South Africans, and that indeed the deal has South Africans in it.
"I also appreciate your assurances that this deal is, in effect, not the sale of an important South African sporting asset to American owners, ultimately robbing the country of a say in a uniquely South African brand, the Springboks.
"This is one thread of the narrative that is circulating across the media, and it is leading to heightened concerns, which may not even be warranted.
"That being said, it is always important that levels of consultation and information sharing are adequate in matters such as these, especially when regarding matters of significant public interest.
"I would therefore like to humbly request that tomorrow's scheduled meeting to decide on the way forward with your members be postponed so that I can be fully apprised of the particulars surrounding this proposed deal, or any deal that may be agreed to through your structures.
"I request this simply so that I will be in an informed position to answer the constant stream of questions that are being directed towards me, including from my colleagues in Parliament and Cabinet. I trust that my request would be favourably considered."
@JohnGoliath82