Cape Town – Ashwin Willemse, Nick Mallett and Naas Botha could all be back on air together as early as this weekend.
This is surprising after Saturday’s dramatic scenes that saw Willemse walk off a live SuperSport Super Rugby production, he accused Mallett and Botha of patronising him, adding he could no longer work with them.
The footage caused huge reaction from social media, with thousands of rugby lovers engaging and many of them backing Willemse for taking a stand against black people being undermined in sport.
SuperSport met with all three men on Monday in an effort to get to the bottom of what led to what transpired, all release a statement saying they had good discussions between Supersport and all analyst. Supersport felt no reason to pull any of the analysts off the air.
Supersport CEO Gideon Khobane asked when the trio will be back on air on Saturday, “I would have to see what our weekend schedule is … I know we have a PRO14 final and Super Rugby.”
“If we take them off it’s like we’ve already judged them and who is right and who is wrong. I don’t think that’s fair.
“It will send a message to the public that this one is on because he is right and this one is off because he is wrong … it’s not fair.
“At this point, nobody’s job is on the line, up until we come to the end of our investigation.”
MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said he saw no reason why things couldn’t go back to normal and found what transpired not racist.
“From today’s discussions it’s very clear that they can continue to work together,” he said.
“We didn’t see anything that says they are not prepared to work together.”
Photo Credit- Gallo Images
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