SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd, the commercial arm of the South African Rugby Union (Saru), confirmed on Friday that representatives of the board had been charged with engaging the managing director, Jonathan Stones, and board chairman Mpumelelo Tshume in discussions regarding their future, as part of the restructuring of South African Rugby.

This follows in the wake of media articles reporting that Tshume and Stones are said to have been in disfavour with some board members for their alleged absence of three weeks for a single overseas meeting and also the fact they have allegedly made unauthorised flights which would probably be used in mitigation to oust them.

Stones, as a fulltime staff member of SA Rugby, will be able to oppose a motion that he should resign.

Tshume, however, won't attend the meeting.

If Tshume is ousted, it will also affect his appointment as chairperson of Sanzar (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) which, at present, rests with South Africa.

Stones too, according to the reports, could lose the position as managing director of that organisation if he is asked to resign.

If Tshume is asked to resign as chairperson of SA Rugby he will have little recourse as SA Rugby is owned entirely by SARU, whose management, it is expected, will table that Stones, who has been employed at SA Rugby for less than two years, is, however, a staff member and an agreement in terms of the labour law will have to be reached with him, which could be another costly exercise for Saru.

Under the restructuring plan, the company which they serve — SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd) — will be dissolved.

Sapa