17 June 2010, 07:25
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[PIC] Mini-clad Dutch women get bail
[PIC, VIDEO] Women in minis held by Fifa
By Shaun Smillie, Peter Fabricius, Gill Gifford and Deon de Lange
As Mirte Nieuwpoort and Barbara Castelein were ushered out of court 3 in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court yesterday, a diplomatic row was beginning to simmer between the Netherlands and South Africa.
It all has to do with an orange dress, a small purple logo, and a morning raid by a specialised SA Police Service unit. But it was enough for Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to phone the South African ambassador in The Hague, Peter Goosen.
"He indicated to the ambassador that the charges and the arrest of these two woman were disproportionate and not correct," said the spokesman for the Netherlands embassy to South Africa, Christoph Prommersberger.
Adding to this, Verhagen said: "If South Africa and Fifa want to tackle a company over illegal advertising, they should take legal action against the company and not against two ordinary citizens who walked around in orange outfits."
Nieuwpoort and Castelein appeared in a dedicated World Cup court at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon.
After much wrangling by prosecutors and defence lawyers, they were given R10 000 bail each and told to be back in court on June 22.
They are facing charges of contravention of South Africa?s Merchandise Marks Act of 1941 and the contravention of two sections of the Special Measures Regulations.
Their legal representatives and bail were paid for by the Bavaria Beer company.
During the hearing, the two women sat huddled together in the dock, and this time the only flash of orange was a backpack one of the women had at her feet. Both women appeared worried and didn't speak to the gathered media in the courtroom.
Police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said yesterday's arrests followed ongoing investigations into an alleged ambush marketing plot that saw 36 women attend the Denmark versus Netherlands match at Soccer City on Monday afternoon.
All wore bright-orange outfits known as Dutchy dresses - designed as a giveaway with Bavaria beer gift packs in Holland as part of a World Cup build-up marketing strategy. The only visible branding on the dresses was a small purple tag on the side near the hemline bearing the Bavaria logo in white.
On Monday, the group of 36 women were rounded up and held for several hours by Fifa officials, who questioned them before they were released.
Yesterday morning, following a 48-hour investigation, police from the Commercial Crime Unit arrested two women, both Dutch,
at their hotel in Roodepoort.
They were then taken to the commercial crime police station in Joubert Park.
It is unclear why the police targeted the foreign women and not the other, reportedly South African, women.
The Dutch ambassador to South Africa, Robe de Vos, said the embassy had asked the police to explain the arrests and questioning of the women.
According to the terms of their bail, the two had to hand over their passports and were forbidden to participate in any other ambush marketing or apply for a temporary passport.
Prommersberger said the embassy was looking at the possibility of placing a member of the embassy staff with the women for their security.
Police, meanwhile, could not say whether there were any legal proceedings against the South African woman who were wearing the orange dresses.
Responding to the Dutch government's criticism, Saul Kgomotso Molobi, a spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said South Africa's anti-ambush marketing legislation was designed to protect Fifa?s intellectual property rights.
"We appeal to fans to observe our laws as a sovereign state."
This article was originally published in The Pretoria News on June 17, 2010
The Star
Comments by Sonny
Blatter should be arrested and thrown into a SA prison for the night!
The Dutch Governments aren't finished with him yet!
Riches and not 'RAGS JEFF BLATTER!!'
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