‘It was tough’: The ‘embarrassing’ moment in South Africa that left Candice Warner ‘heartbroken’ – Fox Sports

Four words echoed in Candice Warner’s head when her family returned from the Australian cricket team’s ill-fated South Africa tour in 2018: “It’s all my fault.”

The setting of the ball-tampering scandal that saw Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner handed unprecedented sanctions by Cricket Australia, it was a melting pot of torment for the Warner family – one that spanned the weeks preceding Sandpapergate and “was more than just what people saw”.

“Going into that series …[David] had big expectations. As a family and as a team, we all thought he was going to do some fantastic stuff. But then from Test One, it all unravelled,” the former Ironwoman, whose memoir, Running Strong, is available now, tells news.com.au.

The opening batter copped it on the field – later revealing he had to be physically restrained by teammates when confronting South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock in a Durban stairwell mid-match over a “vile and disgusting” comment the player allegedly made about his wife.

But it was Warner who arguably bore the brunt, taunted by fans and administrators of a sport she didn’t even play – the latest chapter in a public shaming that had, by then, been going on for 11 years.

David had to be physically restrained by teammates when confronting Quinton de Kock in a Durban stairwell.Source: Supplied

‘For myself and my family...it was embarrassing. It broke my heart.’ Picture: AFP Photo/Peter Parks — ‘For myself and my family…it was embarrassing. It broke my heart.’ Picture: AFP Photo/Peter ParksSource: AFP

“For myself and my family, me being pregnant at the time and no one knowing, my two little girls and my mother there – it was embarrassing. It broke my heart. It was … it was tough,” the 38-year-old says, of the Sonny Bill Williams masks South African spectators donned.

“It was tough to stand there and support David, but I knew that I had to. I knew I couldn’t leave the stadium – because if I did, David would’ve known that everything had affected me. And then it would’ve affected him.”

Looking back now, the Fox Sports panellist knows that what happened before Port Elizabeth – and everything that came after – “had nothing to do with me”.

“But when your name and your past gets dragged up for the few weeks in the lead-up to being sent home, you definitely feel like you are somewhat to blame,” she says.

“Maybe not entirely to blame, but there’s a part of you that goes, if all that in the lead-up didn’t build so much tension, didn’t build so much anger between the two teams, then – you don’t know [what might have happened] … That’s where I thought it was all my fault.

“And that really, really hurt me. At the time, I absolutely thought that I contributed to everything that was going on.”

‘At the time, I absolutely thought that I contributed to everything that was going on.’ Picture: AFP Photo/Peter ParksSource: AFP

The bulk of what Warner endured in South Africa can be traced back to the 2007 “night out that became a conversation the entire country wanted to have” – a “pash with a boy at the pub” that she has been forced to answer for, over and over again.

In Running Strong, she recalls wondering at the time, aged 22, how “interesting” the story – “surf lifesaver pashes footy player in local pub” – could possibly be; certain it “had come, and it would go, like all news stories”.

Nobody, least of all Warner herself, could have predicted that the private moment – one that might have remained private but for a punter who “shot [a photo] up and under my skirt inside the bathroom” – would follow her in the almost two decades since.

Williams – who in his 2021 autobiography acknowledged that while he was in a relationship at the time, “she was a single adult woman and so it really was no one else’s business what she did” – seemingly got the “boys will be boys” treatment. Warner was slut shamed.

Sonny Bill Williams.Source: News Limited

Running Strong by Candice Warner.Source: Supplied

“The thing that disappoints me is I didn’t have a voice back then. Women didn’t have a voice back then. Sixteen years on, we can now talk about it – I feel comfortable talking about it, and I can be heard,” she says.

“In 2007, I was forced to apologise. And now I’m able to have these chats … and the fact that we’ve come so far and that we can have these conversations now is really empowering.”

Having looked at it “from every angle, because it’s been part of my life for close to two decades”, Warner is certain the incident would not have dogged her in the same way if she were a man.

“I can see from the other side, and I don’t think that he gets targeted as much as I do … And if the situation happened now, I don’t think it would be anywhere near as bad as what I went through, what my family went through, or what other women went through at that time.”

David and Candice at the 2023 Australian Cricket Awards. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

Candice and David Warner with their daughters Ivy Mae, Indi Rae and Isla Rose. Picture: Julian AndrewsSource: News Corp Australia

By her own admission, Warner is “not the perfect person”, nor “the perfect mum”. But she’s taken the voice she didn’t have back in 2007 and used it to address – for her three daughters – “what I went through without any interruptions or any interference … in my words”.

“I hope they see my strength now. I spend a lot of time with the girls one-on-one with David being away, and they’re too young to realise now, but I hope they look back one day and go, ‘Wow, mummy did all that on her own … how incredible’. I just want to be the best role model possible for my kids,” she says.

“And I’ve experienced enough to now have the tools to teach my girls how to get through certain situations. How to overcome the bad times, how to embrace the good times, but also just how to be themselves. How to be comfortable in their own skin without being judged.

“Women are judged every single day. You’re too big, you’re too small; your hair’s not long enough, it’s too short; you’re too skinny, you’re too fat. It can be a horrible world for women – but it can also be an unbelievable world. So I want to try to empower my girls [that] whatever they put their mind to, they can achieve.”

Running Strong by Candice Warner is available now

Agriculture

Zim takes investment opportunities to Türkiye indaba – The Herald

Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor
Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities will take centre-stage during the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business Forum where Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava is expected to lead the country’s delegation.
The economic business forum is set for Thursday and Friday next week at the Istanbul Congress Center in Istanbul.
In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Alfred Mutiwazuka, confirmed Harare’s participation.
He said Zimbabwe’s delegation will comprise officials from ZimTrade, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Government institutions and private sector companies.
“In line with Zimbabwe`s engagement and re-engagement drive, Minister Shava will have a meeting with Professor Dr Omer Bolat, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye to discuss among other issues: the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement signed in 2018 and ratified by Türkiye in February 2022 and implementation of the Agreement to Establish the Türkiye-Zimbabwe Business Council signed in 2016 by the CZI and Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board,” said Ambassador Mutiwazuka.
“The Minister will engage players in the agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and infrastructure sectors with a view to inviting them to invest in Zimbabwe.”
Ambassador Shava is also expected to participate in a panel on “Türkiye and Opportunities under the AfCFTA”, a topic that the Turkish authorities have shown great interest in, as they advance Türkiye-Africa cooperation.
Some members of the Zimbabwe delegation will participate in other panel meetings on digital transformation, health technologies, sustainability of value chains in the agro-industries and manufacturing sectors, women entrepreneurship, free zones, the AfCFTA, financing of trade and investments and banking during the two-day conference.
Ambassador Mutiwazuka said the Türkiye-Africa Economic Business Forum offers mutual benefits to both Africa and Türkiye, through increased economic cooperation.
“The Forum demonstrates the emerging role of African countries as dynamic players in the global business arena. African countries and Zimbabwe, in particular, benefit from the increasing economic development of Türkiye economic cooperation hinged on the ‘win-win’ principle,” he said.
Africa benefits from this forum in various ways including facilitating increased trade and investment between Africa and Türkiye by promoting economic relations and encouraging Turkish businesses to invest on the continent.
Increased investments are expected to lead to job creation, infrastructure development, and increased revenue for African nations.
African countries are also expected to benefit from infrastructure development since Türkiye has expertise in infrastructure projects such as construction, transportation, and energy.
Through the forum, Africa can benefit from Turkish investments and technologies, which address crucial infrastructure gaps in many African countries.
Türkiye also has experience in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, which can be shared with African nations to enhance their own industrialisation efforts.
President Mnangagwa has reiterated that Zimbabwe is on an unrestrained path to industrialisation and modernisation, and the country is expected to benefit from its participation in the business forum.
It is expected that collaboration with Türkiye in the manufacturing and industrial sectors can help Africa develop local industries, reduce import dependency, and create employment opportunities.
With many countries experiencing food shortages, it is expected that through participation in the business forum, African countries will benefit Türkiye’s advanced agricultural technologies — machinery and implements — and knowledge that help to improve productivity, increase food security, and enhance agricultural value chains.
This knowledge transfer can contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Africa.
The Türkiye -Africa Economic Business Forum also promotes tourism and cultural exchanges and investment in the tourism industry, thereby creating employment opportunities, and fostering cultural understanding.
African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, Ambassador Albert Muchanga has said this year’s Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum convenes against the background of global challenges of climate change and its adverse impact of heat waves, flooding and drought, inflation, geopolitical tensions, food and energy insecurity as well as the lingering Covid-19 pandemic is some parts of the world.
But he said while this is a period of multiple challenges, it is also a period of opportunity and hope, and the “key lever is cooperation because it is a vital instrument in meeting the world’s complex challenges which no country or region can solve on its own”.
“The Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum is a strategic lever in this regard,” said Ambassador Muchanga.

Africa Moyo Deputy News Editor

Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities will take centre-stage during the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business Forum where Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava is expected to lead the country’s delegation.

The economic business forum is set for Thursday and Friday next week at the Istanbul Congress Center in Istanbul.

In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Türkiye, Alfred Mutiwazuka, confirmed Harare’s participation.

He said Zimbabwe’s delegation will comprise officials from ZimTrade, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Government institutions and private sector companies.

“In line with Zimbabwe`s engagement and re-engagement drive, Minister Shava will have a meeting with Professor Dr Omer Bolat, Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye to discuss among other issues: the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement signed in 2018 and ratified by Türkiye in February 2022 and implementation of the Agreement to Establish the Türkiye-Zimbabwe Business Council signed in 2016 by the CZI and Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board,” said Ambassador Mutiwazuka.

“The Minister will engage players in the agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and infrastructure sectors with a view to inviting them to invest in Zimbabwe.”

Ambassador Shava is also expected to participate in a panel on “Türkiye and Opportunities under the AfCFTA”, a topic that the Turkish authorities have shown great interest in, as they advance Türkiye-Africa cooperation.

Some members of the Zimbabwe delegation will participate in other panel meetings on digital transformation, health technologies, sustainability of value chains in the agro-industries and manufacturing sectors, women entrepreneurship, free zones, the AfCFTA, financing of trade and investments and banking during the two-day conference.

Ambassador Mutiwazuka said the Türkiye-Africa Economic Business Forum offers mutual benefits to both Africa and Türkiye, through increased economic cooperation.

“The Forum demonstrates the emerging role of African countries as dynamic players in the global business arena. African countries and Zimbabwe, in particular, benefit from the increasing economic development of Türkiye economic cooperation hinged on the ‘win-win’ principle,” he said.

Africa benefits from this forum in various ways including facilitating increased trade and investment between Africa and Türkiye by promoting economic relations and encouraging Turkish businesses to invest on the continent.

Increased investments are expected to lead to job creation, infrastructure development, and increased revenue for African nations.

African countries are also expected to benefit from infrastructure development since Türkiye has expertise in infrastructure projects such as construction, transportation, and energy.

Through the forum, Africa can benefit from Turkish investments and technologies, which address crucial infrastructure gaps in many African countries.

Türkiye also has experience in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, which can be shared with African nations to enhance their own industrialisation efforts.

President Mnangagwa has reiterated that Zimbabwe is on an unrestrained path to industrialisation and modernisation, and the country is expected to benefit from its participation in the business forum.

It is expected that collaboration with Türkiye in the manufacturing and industrial sectors can help Africa develop local industries, reduce import dependency, and create employment opportunities.

With many countries experiencing food shortages, it is expected that through participation in the business forum, African countries will benefit Türkiye’s advanced agricultural technologies — machinery and implements — and knowledge that help to improve productivity, increase food security, and enhance agricultural value chains.

This knowledge transfer can contribute to sustainable agricultural development in Africa.

The Türkiye -Africa Economic Business Forum also promotes tourism and cultural exchanges and investment in the tourism industry, thereby creating employment opportunities, and fostering cultural understanding.

African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, Ambassador Albert Muchanga has said this year’s Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum convenes against the background of global challenges of climate change and its adverse impact of heat waves, flooding and drought, inflation, geopolitical tensions, food and energy insecurity as well as the lingering Covid-19 pandemic is some parts of the world.

But he said while this is a period of multiple challenges, it is also a period of opportunity and hope, and the “key lever is cooperation because it is a vital instrument in meeting the world’s complex challenges which no country or region can solve on its own”.

“The Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum is a strategic lever in this regard,” said Ambassador Muchanga.

Agriculture

Zim takes investment opportunities to Türkiye indaba – The Herald