Sports journos in South Africa walk something of a tightrope, having to pull off a balancing act between calling it as they see it and not burning bridges.

Criticise a player and future interviews can be rather tetchy affairs, but have a go at a sports governing body and you can end up being hounded out of the country.

Just ask Graeme Joffe (@joffersmyboy), who fled the country back in 2015 because he feared for his life. You can read that account here, although exiting the country hasn’t meant keeping quiet.

His latest target was SA Rugby president Mark Alexander, and he hasn’t taken the criticism all that well. Sport24 reports:

Alexander has laid a criminal defamation charge with the police against Joffe following the latter’s allegations that the SA Rugby boss was involved in corruption…

“I expect him to visit South Africa sometime in future and I want him to be arrested on criminal defamation charges,” Alexander [below] said in a sworn statement.

Frikkie Erasmus, Alexander’s lawyer, said Alexander wanted to “do everything in his power to address the unfounded defamatory allegations against him and is eager for it to be trialled in an open court to prove it is false.”

He says minutes obtained from an SA Rugby meeting state that Alexander had no involvement in the Megapro contract.

“Joffe reassures himself that a civil lawsuit against him is senseless and futile because he does not own anything and lives in America. He therefore believes that he is effectively untouchable.”

At this point you should probably read the article that landed Joffe in hot water – you can find that on BizNews here – because he doesn’t hold back.

An excerpt from the BizNews piece:

In April 2010, SARU renewed a very lucrative contract for Megapro to be their official, exclusive commercial agent.

The Primedia Group were the majority shareholders of Megapro at the time of the deal and the company was run by George Rautenbach.

But how did Megapro get the deal done without it going to tender as other companies had also put in proposals.

The answer…

Then SARU deputy president and Chairman of SANZAR, Mark Alexander was promised R500,000 per year of the five year contract to push the renewal through and he went along with it.

A “kick-back” of R2.5 million.

Suffice to say it doesn’t paint a flattering picture of Alexander.

In case you think you’re suffering from a case of déjà vu, we should mention that this isn’t the first time Joffe has been sued.

In 2013 the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) instituted a defamation case against Joffe, going after more than R20 million in damages, although he would eventually settle for R1,3 million.

So what does he think of the latest charges against him?

Joffe says he stands by his initial report on BizNews and that Alexander will “soon be further denounced”.

“The truth obviously hurts,” Joffe said. “It’s high time that Alexander admits his transgressions and resigns from his position at SA Rugby. I’m also curious as to why he didn’t act earlier when I first broke the story more than three years ago.”

Joffe said he suspects that SA Rugby’s board is “tired of negative reporting” and that Alexander would have to show “he’s doing something” given the fact that SA Rugby’s elections are around the corner.

Odd that SA Rugby is going after Joffe and not Peter de Villiers, given his recent rants, but I suppose you have to pick your battles.

Joffe remains a popular figure in SA journalistic circles, and it’s voices like his that are too few and far between in a game where it pays to play ball with the big guns.

Let’s hope he has a good lawyer, although by now you reckon he’d be well kitted out.

[sources:sport24&biznews]