By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
SA Rugby Union (SARU) chief executive Jurie Roux has lost an appeal and been ordered to repay R37 million, which an arbitrator found had been misappropriated from the coffers of Stellenbosch University during his tenure between 2002 and 2010.
The Arbitration Appeal Tribunal panel said: “Mr Roux’s strategy was in various instances glaringly evasive, consisting, as it did, of reams of bald denials in his ultimately amended plea. His evidence was no different – evasive and argumentative, and smacked of sophism.”
The panel comprised of retired SCA deputy president Judge Louis Harms, Chris Eloff SC and Mike van der Nest SC.
In its dispute against Mr JW Roux and Mr JC de Beer, which was referred to arbitration by agreement between the parties, Stellenbosch University (SU) received the final arbitration award from the arbitrator, Advocate Alasdair Sholto-Douglas SC, on 23 December 2020.
The arbitration proceedings flowed from summons issued by SU in the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa on 19 June 2015. In this summons the University claimed the payment of damages from Jurie Wynand Roux as the first defendant, and Johannes Christiaan de Beer as the second defendant on grounds that they had breached their employment contracts with the University. A second claim against De Beer related to a claim that he had undertaken to pay a sum of money to the University. On 15 May 2019, the parties agreed to refer their disputes for determination by arbitration.
The University was successful in its claims. The main points of the arbitration award are the following:
- Roux is to pay the University the sum of R37 116 402 plus interest;
- De Beer is to pay the University the sum of R1 904 511 plus interest;
- Roux and De Beer also are ordered to pay the University’s legal costs.
There was an automatic right to appeal the final arbitration award, and the parties may also apply for possible clerical errors to be corrected.
In terms of the provisions of the arbitration agreement, the entire record of the arbitration proceedings is confidential unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, but the existence of the arbitration and the final arbitration award (click here) is not confidential.
The Arbitration Appeal Tribunal panel this week dismissed appeals by Roux and De Beer against the award made in favour of the university in December 2020 by a single arbitrator.
Roux must pay the university R37 116 402 plus interest from the date of summons, while De Beer must pay R1 904 511.