The Western Province Rugby Football Union's (WPRFU) long-awaited Annual General Meeting, which would have seen the union removed from under administration and the election of a new executive, was indefinitely postponed at the eleventh hour, with administrator Peter Jooste informing clubs that he failed in his duty to meet conditions set by the South African Rugby Union (SARU).
Jooste is the third administrator since the WPRFU was placed under administration by SARU in October 2021. Rian Oberholzer, the CEO of SARU, was the first WPRFU administrator, with Max Fuzani replacing him on an interim contract, which ended in December. After nominations were received, the process was suddenly halted, and in a statement on Thursday, Jooste said:
I regret to advise that, despite my best efforts, the WPRFU has not met certain of the conditions set by SARU for the removal of WFRFU from being under administration, and the election of a new WPRFU Executive. Consequently, the Annual General Meeting to be held on 25 November 2024 to elect the new Executive of the WPRFU, is hereby postponed to a date to be notified in the future.
According to minutes of a Special General Meeting held on June 10 at Cape Town Stadium, the conditions set by SARU were made clear. During his time as administrator, Jooste had to finalise the equity deal with Red Disa Consortium, progress the beleaguered union to a financially-stable state, ensure good relations with the equity partner, and ensure sound administration in the union's day-to-day operations.
During that meeting, stakeholders voted by show of hands and mandated the Jooste to complete the following:
- The sale of Newlands Stadium (minimum price of R250 000 000.00) and the sale of such of remaining properties (excluding Mill House, Sports Science, Brookside and Oranjezicht) as may be necessary to settle Dreamworld/Flyt claims.
- Negotiate a settlement with Dreamworld/ Flyt so as to have the mortgage bond cancelled upon transfer of the property(ies) to the buyer.
- Administrator to be nominated as a trustee.
- Once binding heads of agreement are in place, SARU would be approached to take the WPRFU out of administration and election can be held to appoint the new executive.
When Telecom Asia Sport reached out to SA Rugby for comment on the failure to meet some of the conditions they set for Jooste, whom they appointed to the role at WP, and the subsequent postponement of the AGM, a spokesperson stated that “the cancelation of meetings is a purely operational and technical process.”
Jooste was also contacted for comment, but did not respond at the time of publication.
