The body responsible for Olympic sports has been moving from one crisis to another, a state of affairs that has filtered down to their troubled preparations for next year's Games in
On the morning of 28 August, the
As it turns out, the delegation took a wrong turn or - more accurately - their
Mthethwa met with the Sascoc board on 12 October to express his concern and reassure the federations that, come
"Something has to happen and happen quickly, otherwise it's going to be difficult to strengthen the relationship, based on the very unhealthy and unhygienic situation'" Mthethwa said. "Changes have to be seen. Faces have to change' first and foremost. You recall that the Zulman commission raises the issue of governance and individuals in some of the instances."
In the aftermath of the ministerial committee of inquiry into Sascoc nearly a year ago, the sport governing body and the ministry of sports, arts and culture presented the ministerial inquiry joint report and action plan, a roadmap to recovery and implementation, following revelations of mismanagement and poor leadership. Sascoc and the ministry were meant to present a united front, singing from the same hymn sheet, clear on the path ahead, yet they left their audience with more questions than answers.
The mess at Sascoc
Sascoc has already missed its
In
Tyamzashe was the first director general of the sports department and worked under late sports minister
He said in a recent interview, "Our mandate as the Compliance Task Team is to ensure that Sascoc implements the inquiry recommendations. That involves engagement with Sascoc through their designated person. We have now presented a roadmap, in that regard, to the minister for his comments and we will leave it to him to communicate on this intervention in his capacity as minister of sport, arts and culture, and the person who appointed us."
With just over seven months to the
Delays in the signing of Olympic selection criteria by various federations have compounded Sascoc's woes ahead of the Games. Already this has become a public relations nightmare for the organisation.
The Olympic dreams of the kayak and canoe teams are practically over. They met international qualification standards, but fell short of Sascoc's more stringent targets.
Criteria controversy once again
But the problems at Sascoc have run deep and wide for a number of years, spanning the tenures of at least two sports ministers. The incumbent, Mthethwa, has called for swift and decisive change, which means earlier elections and the addition of two independent directors, as recommended by the task team.
Sascoc elected
When the sports department allocated just R11 million to Sascoc, Sam knew the writing was on the wall as far as Team South Africa's hopes for
The 2018 inquiry into Sascoc, chaired by Judge
Sascoc spent R6 million on legal fees fighting former chief executive
To compound Sascoc's financial woes, its Lottery allocation was slashed to 5% of what it had previously received.
Hendricks advised the sports portfolio committee that the body had embarked on auditing its finances for the past five years to try to recover lost money.
Hendricks has largely toed the line since Mthethwa took the reins at the ministry of sport, so much so that members of the sports portfolio committee questioned whether Sascoc and the department are one and the same thing. They questioned Sascoc's competency and contribution to its own turnaround strategy.
'Leadership must change'
DA member of Parliament
"The implementation of the recommendations is not going to happen because we have a minister in charge who listens to individuals, and is not dealing with the total recommendations. I was told that they're going to come up with a way forward but I still question that. The first ETA was in April this year, they didn't attain that. Now they are saying November or December to show the way forward," Mhlongo said.
He said that Sascoc having a president older than 70 is a problem on its own. "The leadership must change first. We must not have deployees there. We must have people who are committed to sport, and have the interests of sport at their heart," Mhlongo said.
He also highlighted the problems with the selection criteria, which change all the time.
Ngwenya said Sascoc was unable to announce who had already qualified for the
It appears the only thing certain at Sascoc these days is uncertainty in relation to the number of issues plaguing the organisation, from a president sitting in the departure lounge to a compromised board and clear evidence of maladministration.
So far, the minister of sport's response has been to show plenty of patience, nearly a year after the recommendations were made public. After his recent meeting with the Sascoc board, it's clear the organisation is living on borrowed time and needs to start acting in a way that is more receptive to change. Otherwise, it risks jeopardising the future of its federations and the nation's athletes.
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