The Democratic Alliance on Thursday called for a “comprehensive investigation and forensic audit” to call those responsible for the financial affairs of the EP Kings rugby franchise to account. The party’s Ross Purdon had harsh words for the union’s president: “Cheeky Watson's handling of…its financial affairs has been a travesty.He said that while “it is common knowledge that the players have not been paid since the end of September”‚ it decided to release recent letters from Watson to players.The first - dated 15 December 2015 and described by Purdon as “a shameful‚ two-sentence letter from Cheeky” – informed players that the union does “not have any further information regarding salaries”.The second‚ dated three days later and‚ stressed Purdon‚ “seven days before Christmas!” – “informs a number of players that their contracts are to be terminated and with no regard to outstanding duration thereof”.“The disgraceful treatment of the EP Kings contracted players cannot go unchallenged‚” said the DA MPL.“These are young men with young families who week after week‚ month after month have put their bodies on the line for our Province. This heartless treatment of professional sportsmen who have a very brief window period to play professional sport is a disgrace.”Purdon said the province’s sports MEC‚ Pemmy Majodina‚ had “good intentions” when she recently tried to “find solutions to the funding impasse”‚ but he added “this is not going to solve the short-term problem of young families being left destitute during the festive season”.He said the Department of Sport “certainly does not have the required budget to bail the union out”‚ and pleaded with the South African Rugby Union “to immediately assist the stricken players”...