Cape Town - SuperSport has agreed to cooperate fully in the South African Human Right's Commission's (SAHRC) inquiry into alleged racism at the broadcaster.
This follows the news on Wednesday that the SAHRC would start an inquiry that looks specifically at the infamous Ashwin Willemse incident and why the former Springbok wing walked off a live broadcast during a Super Rugby panel discussion back in May.
The uproar that followed that incident was one of the news stories of the year, with Willemse alleging that he had been undermined and that he had been the victim of racism at SuperSport.
What followed was an internal inquiry from Advocate Vincent Maleka that cleared Nick Mallett and Naas Botha, the men on the set with Willemse that day, of any racist activity.
Maleka did, however, recommend that the incident be referred to the SAHRC, which has now happened.
"SuperSport has cooperated fully with the SA Human Rights Commission since the broadcaster referred the Ashwin Willemse matter to the Commission," MultiChoice's Group Executive for Corporate Affairs, Joe Heshu, told Sport24 via email.
"This followed the completion of an independent investigation instituted by SuperSport and conducted by Advocate Vincent Maleka SC into the circumstances surrounding the former presenter walking off the set of a live broadcast.
"Adv Maleka SC found that the walk-off was not the result of racism. He recommended that the matter be referred to the Commission.
"SuperSport will participate fully in the enquiry to be conducted by the Commission and maintains its firm view that racism did not play a role in this matter."
The inquiry starts in February next year and is expected to run up until the end of June.