EXCLUSIVE: The South African Rugby Union has finally run out of patience with troublous former Western Province Rugby Football Union President Zelt Marais.
@rugby365com can reveal that a disciplinary hearing has slapped Marais with a 10-year ban and a ZAR50,000 fine – suspended for five years.
SARU brought eight charges against Marais for ‘repeated breaches’ of the SARU Code of Conduct.
On September 30 a ruling was made on the merits and Marais was found guilty on all eight charges.
Marais, in a recorded interview with @rugby365com, on Wednesday stubbornly insisted that he is still the President of WPRFU.
“No election for a new executive has taken place,” he insisted.
He added that he would appeal the ban.
In the hearing Marais minimised the impact of his actions, comparing his situation to ‘the late Nelson Mandela’s fight against apartheid’ and minimised the importance of remorse for his actions.
In a letter, sent by the Judicial Officer, Advocate André May, this week, said the “repetitive nature” of Marais’s breaches, his “lack of remorse, and his continued defiance of SARU’s authority” are significant factors to be considered when deciding on an appropriate sanction.
“SARU maintains that the only appropriate sanction is expulsion from all rugby activities,” the letter said, adding: “[SARU] emphasise the need to protect the integrity of the sport, restore stability to the WPRFU administration, and deter similar conduct by other office-bearers.”
May confirmed that the repetitive nature of Marais’s breaches, his lack of remorse, and his continued defiance of SARU’s authority were significant factors considered when he decided on an appropriate sanction.
“His comparison of his position to that of the late Nelson Mandela is fundamentally flawed,” May’s letter said.
“The late [President] Mandela’s actions were part of a far larger fight against oppression, while Marais’s actions are a targeted attack on the governance of a sporting organisation, with which he voluntarily became involved.
“The severity and impact of Marais’s actions, along with the absence of remorse and the potential for continued defiance, necessitate a firm sanction.”
The latest ban came after his pertinacious attacks on the national body.
Marais, slapped with a 12-month ban in 2022 for various breaches of the SARU Code of Conduct, had the book thrown at him in June.
One of the main issues against Marais was that in April he appeared in a video with Dr Jerome Swartz of the Africa Restoration Alliance, a fringe political party that garnered only 11 108 votes in the national elections earlier this year.
Marais’ conversation with Swartz, which is still on the party’s social media channels, followed shortly after ARA had instituted proceedings against SARU in an attempt to have SARU’s decision to place WPRFU under administration declared unlawful and set aside.
ARA, as the first applicant, with co-applicants William Angelo Fisher and Godfrey Gavin Afrika, filed papers in the Western Cape High Court on Friday in an attempt to have the administration overturned by declaring the Section 29.5 of SARU’s constitution (under which the administration of WPRFU was implemented in October 2021) declared unconstitutional.
The application never progressed beyond an application and as far as @rugby365com determined, no date was ever set for a hearing.
@king365ed
@rugby365com
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