The week in SA sport ... sportsfire.co.za For 18 lonely months, I’ve been exposing the corruption and maladministration in SA sport and with every day, I get more disgusted by what is happening. Hence, I will fight SASCOC’s R21 million defamation lawsuit against me until the bitter end. Our sportsmen and women are muzzled and most of the sporting federations are too scared to stand up to the authorities for fear of losing funding. Perhaps, someone from SASCOC can please explain this? SA’s black skier, Sive Speelman qualifies for the slalom in Sochi with IOC funding but SASCOC says he can’t go. Speelman is the ultimate Olympic story. He would be the first Black South African Winter Olympian. Sive comes from a humble background and started skiing through a school ski programme at Tiffindell. He took to skiing and quickly outshone his friends. Snow Sports South Africa identified his talent and gave him the opportunities necessary to excel. Sive qualified for the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck 2012, where he did SA proud. The same Youth Olympics, where Speelman was the only SA competitor and five officials went for the “free ride”. Yes, five of them. SASCOC CEO, Tubby Reddy, a SASCOC deputy president, a chef de mission, a project manager and IOC committee member Sam Ramsamy all flew business class to Austria. The next goal for Speelman was Sochi. SASCOC, Snow Sports and the IOC signed a contract with IOC Solidarity, giving Sive the chance to train and race to qualify for Sochi. The purpose of the IOC Solidarity grant is to get athletes to Sochi and it states clearly that if an athlete qualifies, “he must go”. But once again, the powers that be at SASCOC have shattered another dream! Raven Klaasen – go you good thing. The South African Davis Cup player and his American partner, Eric Butorac are through to the mens doubles final at the Australian Open. The unseeded pair beat the No 8 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 6-4. Congrats Raven but whats the first thing the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA) does? They call SA Tennis, asking for tickets - so, a couple gravy trainers can go over to Aussie Open to watch Klaasen in the final. Theres no money for Soweto Open but there is money for a little holiday in Melbourne. As soon as theres success, the officials want to share in the glory but how much financial support has Klaasen ever got from SRSA? Speaking of SRSA, I see the Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula is still making a noise about Bafana Bafana’s performance against Nigeria in CHAN. Mbalula said he doesn’t have to apologize for calling the team a “bunch of losers” and singling out goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs as the reason for the team’s 3-1 defeat by the Nigerians. I wonder if the Minister saw David de Gea’s costly mistake last night against Sunderland but you dont hear the Manchester United coach having a go at him. So, what right did Mbalula have to mouth off about Josephs? No right at all as far as I’m concerned. Every goalkeeper around the world can have an off night. Former Bafana Bafana defender, Mark Fish also believes Mbalula shouldn’t have used a public platform to criticize the team. Mbalula’s response: “Mark Fish from Strictly Come Dancing” .... Show some respect Mr Minister – after all, he is one of SA’s greatest footballers. Meanwhile, the Department of Sports and Recreation and the Sports Trust have gone “AWOL” with my recent questions. Ten days ago, I asked the following questions after finding out that the Sports Trust was now being used as a conduit by the Department of Sport and Recreation: 1) When the Sports Trust receives money, do you have to spend it as directed rather than to allocate independently as the Trust sees fit? 2) Did all the trustees agree to the Trust acting as a conduit for Dept of Sport and Recreation? 3) Does it not change the mission of the Trust? 4) Is the process governed by an agreement or not – and who signed it? 5) Does the Sports Trust get a commission or payment for the work they do – like an admin fee? 6) Was there any procurement process implemented for the Trust to get this money? 7) What procurement processes does the Trust follow to allocate such money? 8) Was the National Treasury consulted on this “agreement”? 9) Was funding for the WADA conference also sent through SAIDs from Lottery? 10)Will funding allocated via the Trust be subject to the new government austerity measures? 11) Who was paid the R8 million for the Sports Awards? 12) Why was R 3.9 million paid to the Sisonke Boxing club? 13) How does SRSA and Trust justify a spend of R 63 million on national schools week in Bloem? 14) Who was the R 10 million for the WADA conference paid to? Still no answers Just hope the partners of the Trust who have invested millions, the likes of Nedbank, Sun International, SAB, Coca-Cola, Supersport and Impala Platinum are keeping a close eye on what is going on. The story of Sive Speelman is a national disgrace and so sad. Sive would be the ultimate Olympic story! For 18 months, Ive been exposing SASCOC for what they really are and this is just another story of sick power shattering an Olympic dream! My wish for the new year is that the sporting federations of SA grow strong enough to join forces to call for the resignation of the Sports Minister as well as the President and CEO of SASCOC and that the Public Protector calls for a full forensic investigation of SRSA and SASCOC. We need sporting change!
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 09:09:23 +0000
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