Willemse to approach Equality Court

Ashwin Willemse’s legal team will approach the Equality Court to tackle the matter of his walkout from the SuperSport studios a month ago because of the alleged racist and patronising behaviour of his co-hosts, Nick Mallett and Naas Botha.

Jacaranda FM reports Willemse wants the court to look into the events leading up to the walkout.

The former Springbok walked out of the studio live on air last month, apparently enraged by comments made by the two other members of the panel, Mallett and Botha, accusing them of undermining him in studio.

The walkout led SuperSport to launch an independent inquiry into the incident, and yesterday the probe found that there was no applicable evidence of racism.

Jacaranda FM reported Willemse’s lawyer described the independent inquiry as a “fruitless exercise” that had procedural and legal flaws.

Willemse’s lawyer, Nqobizitha Mlilo, told the station the sports channel had no legal standing to conduct the probe, adding the inquiry had been one-sided.

SuperSport confirmed Willemse voluntarily refused to participate in the probe because he felt the forum was “inappropriate” and that Mallett and Botha would be back on television screens in due course.

“We believe the whole incident is rooted in racism. We are at an advanced stage with preparing those documents, and we will be approaching the Equality Court,” Mlilo told the station.

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