Ras Dumisani 'under the influence'

By Peter Fabricius
Foreign Editor

Rastafarian singer Ras Dumisani was under the influence of something other than pure patriotism when he sang his own ghastly and controversial off-key version of the national anthem before the Springbok-France rugby match in Toulouse last Friday, according to French rugby sources.

They said he had given a perfectly-acceptable performance at the rehearsal for the event at the stadium the afternoon before the evening match.

Listen to Ras Dumisani's inverview on Metro FM



But when he arrived at the stadium just before the match itself, "his condition was such that it was unlikely he would perform nicely," a source said. It was not quite clear what had influenced Dumisani's "condition" so dramatically since the rehearsal. But by then it was too late to find a replacement and so the French rugby authorities had to go ahead and let him sing.

Zoopy.com speaks to the South African public about Ras Dumisani's rendition of the national anthem



The sources said both the vice president and the secretary-general of the French Rugby Union had apologized to the South African rugby authorities the next day for Dumisani's embarrassing performance.