Sport Employees Unite (SEU) the representative trade union of non-playing staff in sport in South Africa has welcomed the announcement by SA Rugby that it has taken administrative control of Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU).

“The actions and decisions taken by some of the elected officials of WPRFU over the past few months were of huge concern and not in the best interest of rugby. We expressed our concerns about this to SA Rugby a while ago and requested like other stakeholders that SA Rugby should intervene. We are therefore grateful that SA Rugby has taken this important decision” said Piet Heymans CEO of SEU.

The appointment of Rian Oberholzer, as the administrator is welcomed and SEU looks forward to working with him while he assumes control of the day-to-day affairs of WPRFU.

“Rian is an experienced sports administrator and we look forward to working with him to ensure stability returns to WPRFU and that the WP rugby teams can focus on performing well in the various competitions over the next few months,” said Heymans.

“We lost faith in the manner in which corporate governance was being conducted and it has had a massive negative effect on the staff. It was an embarrassment for staff to read about the in-fighting, destructive acts, leaking of confidential information including personal staff information by certain elected officials in the newspapers nearly on a daily basis. Something had to be done and we are glad that this now will come to an end,” concluded Heymans.

Issued by Sport Employees Unite (SEU)