Mum was the word in Bok camp

2005-11-07 21:32

Gert Coetzee

Cape Town - It is a pity that Corne Krige only now recounts the true story about the racial incident at the Springboks training camp in 2003 which involved Geo Cronje and Quinton Davids.

SA Rugby's deputy CEO, Mvulelo Ncula, says Krige, as Springbok captain, was the first person SA Rugby asked about the incident, but he said at the time that nothing had happened.

Krige wrote in his autobiography The right place at the wrong time that it had been a cowardly decision of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarvu) to exonerate Cronje of racist conduct in 2003.

The parliamentary sport portfolio committee on Monday asked a SA Rugby delegation why the Cronje-Davids incident that occurred before the 2003 Rugby World Cup tournament, was not investigated thoroughly at the time.

Ncula said that SA Rugby could not get any information about the incident or about Kamp Staaldraad from the players.

He said: "I flew to Pretoria for the investigation. Cronje was the first person we questioned, but he said he knew nothing.

"We also had talks with Gcobani Bobo (Springbok centre), but it didn't help at all. It seemed as if the entire Springbok team decided to close ranks and not talk about it.

"The same happened about questions regarding Kamp Staaldraad. We wanted to get to the root of the problem, but we only now hear the truth."

Krige's autobiography will be on the shelves shortly.

- Volksblad