President Nelson Mandela tackles the last remaining bastion of white rule, the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU), in Pretoria regional court today, in a row over who should control the sport. Rugby boss Louis Luyt is seeking to have a presidential commission of inquiry into the running of the game ruled unlawful.

SARFU brought the case against Mandela in a bid to block the commission, ordered after widespread allegations of financial mismanagement in South African rugby.

Luyt presents his case as one in which Afrikaners are fighting for the preservation of their last cultural bastion.

Luyt maintains the government should not interfere with the inner workings of how rugby is run in South Africa, saying the sport is not a matter of public concern to the public at large.

Mandela and Sports Minister Steve Tshwete say that rugby plays an important role in nation building, that allegations of mismanagement in the sport are a matter for public concern, and that the commission should be allowed to carry out its inquiry.

The inquiry was set up last September but has so far been blocked by the court action. Mandela will not be in court. He is due to visit Uganda today.