Netball South Africa has released a statement addressing the accommodation disaster, which saw the Gauteng Jaguars being stranded and their Telkom Netball League match against the Zambesi Eagles postponed on Tuesday.
This comes after the Jaguars lodged a formal complaint with Netball SA, where they stated their unhappiness with the living conditions at Sun City, North West, since the start of the competition.
After their match against the Baby Proteas on Tuesday morning, the Gauteng Jaguars reportedly discovered that they had been checked out of their hotel rooms when they arrived.
After becoming stranded, they were unable to fully prepare for their night game with the Eagles.
“As Netball South Africa, we are aware of the issues raised by the Gauteng Jaguars around the accommodation logistics, which have ended up affecting today’s game between the Gauteng Jaguars and Zambesi Eagles,” Netball SA said in a statement.
“We worked with the team and Sun City, and the issue surrounding the accommodation for the team has since been resolved.
“Netball South Africa has further resolved the issue around the game that had to be called off and has been rescheduled for Saturday, 3 May, at 9am.”
Temporary suspension of Molokwane
Netball SA has apologised to the Jaguars and all the parties involved in the situation.
“We would like to extend our sincere apologies to the players and all parties involved for any inconvenience caused,” reads the statement.
The unrest at Netball SA follows the temporary suspension of its president, Cecilia Molokwane.
She is being investigated internally and will have a disciplinary hearing regarding allegations of corruption.
“World Netball officially informed the NSA [Netball SA] board around midnight that they have placed the president of NSA, Africa Netball, and a World Netball board [Molokwane] member under precautionary suspension, pending the outcome of an internal investigation and disciplinary hearing,” World Netball said in a statement last week.
In the meantime, the NSA and the portfolio committee on sport, arts, and culture had a contentious meeting last week regarding a number of governance, accountability, and transparency issues that are allegedly endangering the nation’s netball future.
