Former Springboks head coach suspended over sexual allegations

Former Springbok head coach turned politician Peter de Villiers has been suspended by his political party in South Africa due to sexual allegations made against him.

The 66-year-old was suspended from the GOOD party on Friday after he allegedly made sexual advances to a party member last month.

According to a Media24 report, De Villiers allegedly groped a fellow public representative of the party – and was suspended from GOOD after a complaint was lodged with the South African Police Service.

Serious allegation

Media24 reported that De Villiers dropped the complainant at home following an event at the end of January and then allegedly sexually assaulted her.

The complainant then reported De Villiers to GOOD’s national structure.

Last week, the GOOD party’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, confirmed De Villiers’ suspension.

“GOOD has summarily suspended Peter de Villiers from all party activities after receiving a complaint of sexual misconduct from a party member,” he said. “GOOD’s constitution is unambiguous on gender relations and gender-based violence. The constitution applies to all members, regardless of position.”

Herron stressed that De Villiers’ suspension did not mean he was guilty, but it reflected the seriousness of the allegations levelled against the former Bok coach.

“The party will implement disciplinary processes to determine if the provisions of its constitution have been breached,” added Herron. “Given the sensitive nature of the allegations, the party will, for now, be making no further comment on the matter.”

De Villiers joined the GOOD party as a mayoral candidate in the Drakenstein Local Municipality during South Africa’s local government elections in November 2021.

GOOD won four seats in the council but De Villiers resigned from his position in the council to spend time with his family following his wife’s death in April 2022.

However, he remained a party member and was nominated to return to the council in January 2023. Five months later, GOOD announced that De Villiers was taking the party’s vacant seat in the Western Cape Parliament – a position which he held until now.

Held in high regard

At the time, Herron described De Villiers as a leader of calibre and integrity “whose presence will positively impact the work of the provincial legislature.”

De Villiers coached South Africa from 2008 to 2011 and under his guidance the Springboks won a three-Test series against the British & Irish Lions as well as the Tri-Nations title in 2009.

After that, he also coached Zimbabwe from 2018 to 2019 and Eastern Province in 2021.

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