Board elections have since been postponed
The embattled South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) board has been hit by the resignation of two of its members. Acting CEO Ravi Govender this week informed all members of the Olympic body, including acting president Aleck Skhosana, who is also the president of Athletics SA (ASA), about the resignation of Mark Alexander and Lwandile Simelane, in a leer that Sunday World has seen.
“At the special board meeting held on Tuesday, 19 May 2020, the board accepted the resignation letters received from each of the two individuals,” Govender informed members.
“Sascoc expressed its sincere gratitude to both Mr Alexander and Ms Simelane for their dedication, commitment and service to the organisation during their tenure on the board. We wish them well in their future endeavours.”
With its elections for a permanent board postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, infighting among the interim board members and those with leadership ambitions has plagued the national sports umbrella body, with some leading sports codes calling for the resignation of the entire board and the holding of polls soon. With the suspension of the federation’s acting president Barry Hendricks last month and the appointment of Skhosana as the interim boss, the move was immediately followed by one of its members, Tennis SA, complaining that Hendricks and its president Gavin Crookes conspired to block its board member Ntambi Ravele’s bid to run for the Sascoc presidency. Ravele accused Crookes of refusing to sign off her nomination and alleged that Hendricks said she was not ready to contest for the post of the presidency. Hendricks has since denied the allegations. It has also been revealed that the cash-strapped federation has already projected to post a deficit of more than R8-million in the coming financial year.
Besides its financial woes, the sports governing body has had to contend with Hendricks firing back at his detractors, calling for the board to be dissolved and an independent administrator appointed.
In a letter addressed to the presidents of all sports federations that make up Sascoc, Hendricks said the board was failing in its duties while the organisation was on the brink of “financial collapse”.
Hendricks was suspended pending arbitration after receiving a report by a lawyer who was employed to examine the accusations of unethical conduct against him for allegedly blocking Ravele from standing against him in the postponed Sascoc elections. Hendricks has also been at odds with the Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa.
In a letter to the ministry, Hendricks took issue with the minister for writing to the International Olympic Committee and inviting it to intervene and resolve what he referred to as “unhealthy developments around Sascoc”.
It is not clear at this moment when the elections will be held to remedy the situation for, hopefully, the smooth running of the sports organisation for the sake of athletes preparing for Olympics.
