Let me be clear, in no way do I condone the way the Table Mountain rangers handled the Nic Dlamini situation, it was completely over the top, and the individuals responsible should not be allowed to work in the park again, in my opinion.
But, I do want to play devil’s advocate here. The spark that started the fire was the fact that Nic could not produce a valid entry pass to the park when he was asked for it.
Why did Nic not have the required pass?
I don’t have all the facts, and he may have had a valid reason to not be able to produce an entry ticket. But, knowing the normal South African mentality, “I won’t get caught this time”, did he just ride on and assume all was good?
If that was the case, then back to the NTT team. Are you training your riders to be aware of the fact that they are ambassadors of the sponsor’s brand, and also as World Tour athletes, should be setting a pristine example for our youth to follow? In all cases they need to make sure that they are in the clear with any requirement for the road they are training on. “I didn’t know” is not a defence, anywhere in the world.