The South African Rugby Union (Saru) has concluded its internal investigation into Eben Etzebeth’s alleged bakleiery in Langebaan before last year’s World Cup campaign.
Etzebeth and his friends were accused of being involved in an incident that involved racism and assault.
But according to Rapport, former judge Johann van der Westhuizen cleared the 28-year-old of assault and racism following the internal investigation.
The human rights case against Etzebeth is still pending, though, but in his ruling Van der Westhuizen found “no grounds whatsoever to proceed with the charges”.
The ruling also advised SA Rugby “to have a meeting with Etzebeth to discuss the consequences of these charges and how they could reflect on him [and] also to have meetings with all Springboks to discuss this issue and how it could affect the public perception in the future.”
The investigation was reportedly lankal concluded, but SA Rugby was advised not to make it public at the time.