Naas Botha has been around the rugby block, and has been a staple of Supersport’s rugby coverage for as long as this young(ish) man can remember.

Surely they must be paying him decently, which is why it’s so surprising that his estate was provisionally sequestrated by the high court in Pretoria yesterday.

Your useless fact for the day: Naas’ real name is actually Hendrik Egnatius Botha. On with the story from IOL:

Botha, a four-time Rugby Player of the Year winner, has been involved in a six-year financial battle with Nedbank.

In December 2009, the bank turned to court for the first time to demand that Botha and his wife, Karen, pay back the money they owed in terms of the mortgage….

Dana van Zyl, a legal adviser for Nedbank, said in court documents, that shortly after the settlement, Karen sold the property for an amount which was not enough to repay the full loan amount.

The couple also failed to make regular monthly instalments to the bank, as agreed.

At that time, the couple owed the bank R1 357 474 and was due to pay back R17 000 a month over seven years. A new agreement was then signed, in terms of which Nedbank agreed to reduce the monthly instalments to R8 500 a month.

Van Zyl said the couple once again fell in arrears and a third agreement was entered into last year. By then the amount owed was about R1.1m.

Van Zyl said the couple failed to pay the debt in March, June and July last year. The bank then decided to withdraw the agreement.

Last August, the court ordered the couple to pay the more than R1.1m, and a month later an order was issued that their movable property could be sold on execution to recover the money.

A sheriff duly served the Bothas with a warrant of execution, although he wasn’t convinved when Naas claimed he had no disposable assets to sell in order to settle the outstanding mortgage:

He questioned Botha’s reported lack of funds and said the legend was a well-known television presenter, who provided commentary on rugby games, and represented the Springboks as fly-half from 1980 to 1992. “He lives in an upmarket residential area and his income is likely to be higher than average.”

Van Zyl submitted that Botha also stated on his online profile that he “drives a Toyota Prado… his favourite holiday is visiting Mickey and Minnie at Disney World and his hobby is golf, golf and more golf…”

Botha was in the past or still is a director of 42 corporate entities, he added.

According to Van Zyl, Botha had in September 2011 issued a statement to the bank reflecting his assets were valued at R16.4m. “It is strange that all these assets could have dissipated in a period of five years,” Van Zyl said.

That does seem rather odd, and if rumours are true Supersport tends to pay its regulars rather well.

Just ask Robert Marawa, the football presenter who reportedly earns R300 000 per month, although not all of that is from his affiliation with the sports network.

Ag no man Naas, pay back the money.

[source:iol]

[imagesource:here]