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Sascoc remains in the hands of acting chief as CCMA hearing is postponed.
There seems to be no end to the trend of leading South African sports bodies being run by acting chief executive officers (CEOs).
This issue is in the spotlight again after the arbitration matter between the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and its axed CEO Tubby Reddy was this week postponed to early next year.
Following this postponement, the country finds itself with its four major local sports organisations – Sascoc, the SA Football Association (Safa), the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Athletics SA (ASA) – being led by acting CEOs.
Cricket SA has appointed only one chief executive, Thabang Moroe, on a permanent basis after he had been doing the job in an acting capacity since last September, when Haroon Lorgat resigned from the post.
Safa called on Russell Paul to hold down the fort after Dennis Mumble’s contract expired last month, while Golden Arrows boss Mato Madlala has entered her full third year of acting as the accounting officer at the PSL.
ASA has Richard Stander leading the organisation in the interim since his appointment in May 2016, when he replaced Pieter de Jager, who had also been acting for two years. The last time ASA had a full-time CEO was in 2011. The late Frik Vermaak was fired after less than two years in office.
Sascoc will continue to operate under an acting chief executive after the arbitration matter between it and its three axed senior officials was set to be heard in January.
It means Patience Shikwambana – originally employed as general manager – will mark 12 months and a week since taking over as the interim CEO from Reddy.
Reddy was sacked alongside chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj and senior manager Jean Kelly, but the trio has hauled Sascoc to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), where they are contesting their dismissal.
The CCMA has set down the hearing for January after the trial initially scheduled for last week could not proceed further, the two warring parties confirmed to City Press.
Reddy and Sascoc vice-president Barry Hendricks said Monday’s event was merely pre-arbitration as the two parties lodged their documents. “Essentially, we went through the stuff that was not contentious,” Reddy told City Press. “The date for the next trial is January 21 to 25 for trial proper.”
Reddy was accompanied to the CCMA by Maharaj and Kelly, as well as their lawyers, while Sascoc was represented by its legal team. He maintains they were not given a fair hearing by the Sascoc disciplinary committee in December. He thought the tribunal would take into account the doctor’s note he submitted because he couldn’t attend the inquiry. Maharaj and Kelly also did not attend.
“At least the CCMA will give us the opportunity to give our side of the story. I am quite happy to clear my name,” said Reddy, who was removed from office in January.
Among the guilty verdicts against Reddy was a sexual harassment charge. The so-called SS Griffin report found evidence of bugging at Sascoc offices.
The legitimacy of the report‚ however, was questioned and it emerged during the Zulman Commission of Inquiry hearings in March that the document had in fact been worked on on Kelly’s laptop and that Reddy had authored large tracts of it.
Reddy and Maharaj were not spared a grilling by the ministerial inquiry into allegations of misconduct at Sascoc.
City Press has seen parts of the summary of the Zulman report, which makes the following points:
- Reddy’s conduct in relation to the Griffin report was unethical, dishonest and amounts to a fraudulent misrepresentation, while the payment to SS Griffin (from his monies and Volleyball SA) appears to be inappropriate and irregular; and
- Maharaj’s conduct – using Sascoc service providers for personal favours for himself and other members of the board – constitutes conduct akin to corruption.
Maharaj admitted in the Zulman hearings that Sascoc board members often took advantage of the federation’s service providers to cut their own personal deals on the side. He admitted he had had a bill for home renovations settled by a Sascoc service provider, but insisted he paid it back in instalments. He also facilitated a move to get one of the board members a wedding suit.
Meanwhile, the country awaits the release of the final report from the inquiry after Sascoc finally responded to the department of sport and recreation last Friday.
