Susan Rowett Asks Concerned Stakeholders To Explain

Mrs Susan Rowett – asking questions (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)

Former NHA Chairperson Susan Rowett contacted Turf Talk and the Sporting Post earlier this week in respect of a communication published by ourselves on 1 October, titled “Concerned Stakeholders Response to Susan Rowett Letter”.

Susan Rowett wrote:

I refer to your respective publications of a communication on October 1st titled “Concerned Stakeholders Response to Susan Rowett Letter”.

Through your publications, perhaps you could remind the stakeholder group (and thereby also give correct information to readers) of the e-mail letters which occurred between the meeting of September 16th and the press release of the resignations – which for some reason they omit to mention in the above referenced communication.

The stakeholder group claim that their door was not shut. Does the group not remember their letter to the NHA board on 17th September? In this letter they stated emphatically that “while the Stakeholders are open to engagement and corrections from the NHA, material changes to the (proposed) Constitution will not be considered” and that “should there be any signs of delay to the process, we will not hesitate to submit the formal requisition notice”.

The stakeholder group further state “instead all that was received was the press release…”. Does the group not remember the NHA response they received on 29th September?

Mrs Rowett’s points were put to the Concerned Stakeholders group for comment.

Speaking on behalf of Race Coast, Basil Thomas pointed out that the communication mentioned by Mrs Rowett above (i.e. Does the group not remember the NHA response they received on 29th September?) had been strictly confidential.

He said, “We will certainly not be sharing confidential correspondence that was exchanged between the NHA and the Concerned Stakeholders. Perhaps, Mrs Rowett needs to be publicly reminded of the footer that appeared on her email of 29 September – which reads ‘This e-mail contains privileged and/or confidential information and is intended only for the named recipients. Any unauthorised dissemination or copying is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the named recipient, please notify the send (sic) immediately and destroy the e-mail”.

“As your readers will by now be aware, the NHA has a new, fully constituted Board of Directors. The Concerned Stakeholders will allow that Board to consider if any public response to Mrs Rowett is appropriate.”