SportsFire Exclusive: 20 July What is the South African 2020 Olympic Bid Company? Good question. The company was registered in 2010 with four directors: Gideon Sam (SASCOC President) Sundrasagren “Tubby” Reddy (SASCOC CEO) Heeralall Dhaniram “Vinesh” Maharaj (SASCOC CFO) Peter Goldhawk (Director of Gride Investments, SASCOC’s “horse racing arm”) The bid company was registered as a non-profit company but why it was also limited to these four “private” members raises a few eyebrows. In August 2011, the Ministry of Sports and Recreation and the National Olympic committee (SASCOC) confirmed that there would be no bid for the 2020 Games. So, one would have thought that company would have been deregistered. But three years on, it’s still in business with the same four directors. When Gideon Sam was asked why the 2020 bid company not dissolved after the bid did not materialise? His response was: “.....I draw a blank on this one. 2020 bid of what??” He then called me back 15 minutes later to say the company was dormant but was not deregistered as they were going to use it for the Commonwealth bid. Sam also made it clear to me that he would have to resign as director of the bid company as it would be a conflict of interests as he is vice-president of the Commonwealth Games federation. Peter Goldhawk contradicted Sam by saying: “The company is dormant and has never operated. It has been deregistered by CIPC. It was formed to protect the name should South Africa have decided to make a bid for the 2020 Olympics.” An update on a company website last updated (2014-06-09) showed the South African 2020 Olympic Bid company was “in business”. When Goldhawk was made aware of this as well as the fact that that the company had filed annual returns for the last three years, he said: “I am not privy to what has been decided by SASCOC. To my knowledge, the company has been dormant since inception and has not had any activity. Please therefore address any other questions to SASCOC.” Not privy to decisions in a company that you’re a director of and what has SASCOC got to do with it as it is a separate legal entity? Deloitte & Touche (who are also SASCOC’s auditors) are listed as the current auditors of the bid company and when approached for comment. “I will need to check the 2020 Bid Company if we have been formally appointed. We have considered the entity as part of the consolidated audit but the company does not reach the threshold for an audit under the Companies Act.” – Leonard de Rooij Deloitte were also not in possession of the founding documents of the SA 2020 Olympic Bid company. As usual, no reply from Vinesh Maharaj, the CFO at SASCOC. So, if two of the four directors don’t know what’s happening with this company, what is the role of the other two directors, Maharaj and the SASCOC CEO, Tubby Reddy? Reddy and Maharaj have a very close relationship and despite their lofty positions within SASCOC, they are also the President and Treasurer of Volleyball SA respectively. No conflict of interests? Needless to say, Volleyball SA (VSA) is still having its financial woes and hasn’t paid over prize money for tournaments, going back as far as last year. VSA sent out a letter to the players on 7 July asking for a little more patience. “Our funding source is the National Lottery and unfortunately the funds have not yet been transferred to Volleyball South Africa.” - VSA Can Lottery grants be used for prize money? “As you are aware, we will continue to post all payments on the website. For details of grants, you will have to contact the organisation concerned.” – Sershan Naidoo, Manager National Lotteries Board As usual, no reply from VSA. Reddy and Maharaj were also at the centre of the horse racing controversy last year when the jockeys were incorrectly awarded SA colours. That is still unresolved nine months later. Meanwhile, SA Equestrian is still in dire straits and as one concerned insider put it: “SASCOC is again busy cocking up. They stuffed up the Olympics 2 years ago and made SA look like a bunch of fools and now they getting involved on a local level. Is there a way you can help so that they dont end up destroying our sport? Unfortunately equestrian sports are very very expensive so the transformation they require is pretty much unachievable.” When will the alleged fraud, corruption, cronyism and conflict of interests in SA sport end? Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula was given a damning dossier on SASCOC and all the irregularities in 2011 but he conveniently turned a blind eye. The dossier was written by a sports administrator and this sums it all up. “South African sport needs a total overhaul in order to remove the corrupt elements within it and to create a healthy state, where athletes will be the focus of the day and their quest to excel in their God given talents. The current state of sport is riddled with covert corruptive tendencies which are similar to the tendencies taking place in other sectors of our society. The only difference is that people in general are not paying the necessary attention to the details for these evils to be rooted out of sport. A lot of our people depend on the media for them to understand what is happening in sport which has unfortunately proven to be a disadvantage as investigative journalism in sport is not the order of the day.” Finally, who is actually running SASCOC? Is Sam just a puppet for the Reddy and Maharaj show?
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 05:59:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015