South Africa's erstwhile rugby supremo Louis Luyt, yesterday formally resigned as president of the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) in a short telefaxed message to the rugby union's headquarters.
Luyt's resignation may be followed by another dramatic development today: the resignation of the entire SARFU executive committee at a special SARFU meeting called to discuss Luyt's decision to bow out.
Ronnie Masson, one of the executive members who pressed for Luyt's resignation at SARFU's special meeting last week, has signalled his intention to moot that proposal at today's meeting, thereby "wiping the slate clean".
The African National Congress-leaning National Sport's Council called for the resignation of the SARFU executive - and not merely that of Luyt - in its ultimatum to the union at the end of March, a demand which it has not formally retracted although its tone is much less bellicose since Luyt announced his decision to resign at the weekend.
If SARFU's executive does resign, it will open the way for two further developments:
The re-election of the four black executive members who resigned when Luyt, citing SARFU's constitution initially refused to quit because his status as president had not been on the agenda of the special meeting. One of the four black members is SARFU's senior vice president, Silas Nkanunu, who is tipped as a strong candidate to succeed Luyt.
The re-election of at least some of the executive, particularly those who voted in favour of Luyt's resignation last week. They will have redeemed themselves in the eyes of NSC by their stand against Luyt.
If these developments take place, the NSC's demand for resignation of the executive will have been formally met while at least some experienced rugby administrators will be available to serve rugby in the post Luyt era.
SARFU's meeting today will be followed first by an NSC executive meeting tomorrow and then a meeting between the NSC and representatives of all 14 of SARFU affiliated provincial rugby unions, including those who supported Luyt last week.
The NSC had previously refused to parley with unions and/or executive members who backed Luyt. Explaining the change, NSC chief executive officer, Mvuso Mbebe told The Irish Times last night: "We have had a change of heart."
Asked what was necessary for a complete rapprochement between the former warring sports bodies, Mbebe replied that two issues had to be addressed; first, the establishment of a "transitional executive" for SARFU; and second, agreement that the Browde Commission, appointed by President Nelson Mandela to investigate allegations of nepotism and malfeasance in SARFU, should start its work.
A transitional executive made up of existing or re-elected SARFU executive members and NSC representatives was a possible solution to the first condition, Mbebe said.
On the second issue, Mbebe told The Irish Times that the NSC was looking for an "agreement in principle" on the need for the Browde Commission which the High Court set aside last month after Luyt and the (old) SARFU sought a court injunction against it. If there was an agreement in principle, the two sides could leave it to their lawyers to find a way out of the apparent legal impasse, Mbebe said.
Whatever the details of the anticipated post-Luyt accommodation, most observers were confident that the NSC will formally retract its call for the cancellation of pending rugby tours, including that by the Irish national team. One sign was the NSC decision not to officially ask the rugby unions in Ireland, Wales and England to cancel their tours until after the NSC-SARFU meeting. Another was Mbebe's talk of a "change of heart".
