Lucky Maree
What Rugby Union player Elton Jantjies and dietician Zeenat Simjee got up to in the bedrooms of guesthouses on two consecutive nights is hearsay.
That’s the thing with bedrooms. What people say they heard while people are behind closed doors, whether fighting or romping, is never proof of what actually happened.
And that is the point that SARU boss Mark Alexander makes when he labels the Elton Jantjies affair hearsay, and therefore, he implies, requires no action.
And who’s to say when they were screaming with delight, as guests claim, they weren’t enjoying some fat-free, non-caf, café lattes? And when they were swearing at each other at the top of their voices, who’s to say it wasn’t about something like a dispute over the best health drink first thing in the morning. (“Not raspberry, you *** moron! It has to be strawberry!”)
After all, Elton is telling his wife nothing happened, and he wouldn’t lie to his wife, would he? No, not Elton.
Elton’s wife Iva Ristic, the mother of his three children, is not totally convinced. According to Beeld she is officially waiting and seeing. What she is waiting for and hoping to see is not specified.
His wife claimed that she will no longer be “romantically involved” with him; however she will remain his partner, she told Sport24.
When you call it hearsay, Mr Alexander, are you saying that the only thing that matters is the question of sex?
Does common decency feature on your radar at all?
The facts are that Elton’s credit card bounced and he sneaked out of a guesthouse at 6am to avoid paying – and only paid the bill of R4,000 weeks later. You can check the books, Mr Alexander. Those are the facts.
The facts are also that he booked into a five-star guesthouse the next night in Mbombela and racked up, in one night, a bill of R26,000. Paying with South African money, that takes quite some doing, but, granted, he broke no law. What is also a fact, however, is that he paid R21,000 of the bill when the guesthouse complained to SARU. And then he only paid the other R5,000 when the media put heat on him. Fact.
And, we know for a fact that on a previous occasion, he harassed an airline assistant so badly that she locked herself in the aeroplane’s toilet in a state of hysteria. Why the case was dropped is, of course, hearsay.
And finally, there is one little titbit of hearsay that we should all be grateful for. It is only hearsay because a lowly employee said this happened.
Is it possible that a man with any sort of decorum can still be caught saying: “Do you know who I am?”
One hopes that the hotel clerk made that up, right?
Jolling in the honeymoon suite is one thing. Sneaking away without paying the bill is another. But the absolute indecency of telling somebody you are above the rules because of who you are is unforgivable. We fervently hope that is pure hearsay, don’t we, Mr Alexander?
Image source: @RugbyWorld
