As the Border Rugby Union AGM approaches, its affiliates have intensified their complaints regarding the process leading up to this year’s elections and have submitted a petition to SA Rugby seeking intervention.
On Sunday, the union will have elections for the first time in four years.
Last week, it was reported that there was turmoil between the union and its members.
The main grievance was over the nominations list issued for office barriers, club and district representatives ahead of the annual general meeting to decide the new executive committee.
It was alleged that the procedures had not been followed correctly.
Some of the issues raised included candidates not submitting all the supporting documents requested by the union and BRU not issuing a verification report of eligible candidates.
Among the pleas in a letter sent to the mother body was for SA Rugby to demand that BRU release a verification report.
The petition is undersigned by Super and Premier League clubs East London Police, Wallabies, Rising Stars, United Brothers, WSU All Blacks, Busy Boys, Ngculu Zebras, Winter Rose, Ocean Sweepers, Africans, Buffaloes, Moonlight, Breakers and Fort Beaufort United.
Three districts, Amathole, Buffalo City and Chris Hani are also included.
“We have spoken to the [BRU] president [Zuko Badli] in his personal capacity, and have also officially written to the union and its executive. Yet, nothing has been forthcoming,” the petition read.
”The verification was done, and a report was sent out by the independent verifiers to the union on Friday July 17 ... the union inexplicably refused to release the report to the members.
“This is where we had a fundamental challenge.
“The report remains ready to be released, but the union refuses to release it.
“Instead, the union released a list of all the people who had shown an interest in being elected, but refused to give an indication as to who, out of those people who were nominated, actually passed the verification procedure and is eligible for elections
“The members wrote to the union to request that the verification report be sent out.
“Members gave the union timelines in which such was to be done.
“Not only did the union not meet these timelines, it instead refused to acknowledge and answer even the concerns raised by the members as to why the refusal to release the verification report.”
In the missive, the affiliates continued to say that letters sent by clubs were allegedly ignored by the executive.
“This is to show that we have exhausted all the internal avenues in the union.
“The members rightly believe that the verification report will transparently determine if candidates ticked all the boxes of that checklist.
“We do not even know who is eligible to be campaigned for?
“It’s like the IEC deciding not to release the names of the candidates who would be on the ballot box on the day of the upcoming local elections.
“We have pleaded with the union to release the list, and they simply refused.
“We suspect that it is because their preferred candidate(s) did not meet the requirements to be eligible to be elected.
“And did not send all the details and documents which would assure the verification panel of their suitability.
“In the absence of any communication from the union, that is the only logical reasoning left for us to conclude.
“Which is then a clear abuse of power from the president in particular, as well as the executive as a whole.
“Such abuse of power must be investigated by Saru.”
Attempts to get comment from SA Rugby were unsuccessful.
But in a responsive letter, SA Rugby had sent to club Komga United before the petition, the mother body said it was not in a position at that stage to provide the intervention as it did not believe internal remedies had been exhausted.
Badli did not respond to inquiries via WhatsApp and calls.
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