Markus Botes, whose left cheekbone is fractured, told News24 that he was at Mystic Bull restaurant in Hatfield with friends when he ran into a woman who was the sister of one his former classmates at the University of the Western Cape, where they both studied dentistry.
The woman happened to be the player's ex-girlfriend, he said.
Botes said from Mystic Bull, they all went to another pub in Lynwood where they had a few drinks and danced. The rugby player was there.
Botes said when it was time to go home, he and the woman were walking to the parking lot where he was going to wait for an uber taxi to pick him up. He says the player then approached them and started talking to the woman.
While he was speaking to her, Botes said he noticed that the player was standing in an "aggressive posture".
"I saw that he was very aggressive and I left it. I was on my way home and my uber was there already. Just before I got into my uber, I heard a voice behind me asking: 'Markus, het jy haar gesoen?' (Did you kiss her?)," said Botes.
He claimed that everything then happened very fast and the player was on top of him, punching him. People who were in the parking lot tried to stop the rugby player from hitting him, he added.
A J88 medical letter (a letter generated by the department of justice), which News24 has seen, states that Botes will have to undergo a corrective surgery for the injuries.
"I didn’t retaliate, I got into my uber, the driver drove off and he (the player) was running next to the uber trying to open the door but the uber driver sped off," he said.
Botes says he doesn't know what led to the player's actions and that he had never met or spoken to him before.
"The first conversation I had with him was when he said to me 'Hey Markus, did you kiss her?' and then it was a fight," he said.
He said he would now be taking the legal route and has already approached lawyers regarding the incident.
Brooklyn Police station spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach has confirmed that a common assault case is being investigated.
"This after a 26-year-old man was assaulted outside a bar in Lynnwood Ridge. No arrests were made yet," said Weilbach.
Efforts to get comment from the player, whose name is known to News24, are being made and once obtained, the article will be updated.
He is currently playing for a club overseas.
