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There seem to be no hope of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and Sports and Recreation Minister Tokozile Xasa seeing eye to eye on the ministerial inquiry report that she released in December.
The inquiry had been set up by her predecessor, Thulas Nxesi, to look into corporate governance within the national Olympics body, among other issues.
Yesterday Sascoc held a special general council meeting that was attended and addressed by both the minister and Sascoc president Gideon Sam.
At the end of the day, Sascoc issued this lengthy statement:
“The council of Sascoc met today at Olympic House in Johannesburg to discuss the ministerial inquiry report on Sascoc. This emanates from a discussion at Sascoc’s previous annual general meeting on December 8 2018, where the ministerial inquiry report on Sascoc was circulated to our membership, following its release on December 7 2018.
Given that it was released a day before the AGM, the members needed time to appraise its contents and deliberate on it. Consequently, the AGM resolved that a special general meeting should be held early this year so that delegates are given ample time to deliberate on this report and provide valid input.
This special general meeting was addressed by the Honourable Minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa, who emphasised the need to have a strong sports movement which aligns to the 21st century and international best standards. This was following an address by the president of Sascoc, Gideon Sam, who underscored that as an organisation, Sascoc has always been open to change and welcomed it. He also urged the delegates to apply their minds carefully to the recommendations of the report as they have fundamental implications for the governance of sport.
The members of Sascoc took note of the comments by the minister and the president and deliberated at length about the report and its contents. It was a meeting of self-introspection where the members spoke very passionately about the need to rebuild a united Sascoc and take responsibility for what has happened in the organisation.
In this regard, the following resolutions were then passed:
Noting that:
We have heard the minister talking about the report and its recommendation (sic) and that implementation is non-negotiable.
To that we say: we cannot resolve matters without talking. These are matters of policy and right of association.
As regards the findings of the report:
Whilst we are not here to ventilate on the findings section of the report, we have noted with concern some of the issues raised therein. Several actions have been taken in this regard:
1. We have agreed to institute a forensic audit going back five years, led by a firm of auditors.
2. We have noted the non-compliance with corporate governance principles and have instituted an internal process to rectify these with immediate effect. An organisational development process is in place and has submitted its draft report to the board with specific timelines. The actions taken by the board in this regard were reported in the AGM on December 8 2018.
In dealing with policy and constitutionally related recommendations of the report, such as election of the president, amendment of the constitution, etc, we have taken note of the advice of the international bodies (the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee) and the statutes of other international federations, such as Fifa, the International Rugby Board, etc, to which the members of Sascoc belong.
We note that there is disagreement with the minister on these policy and constitutional matters. In order to move forward we must have a constructive dialogue with the ministry on how we can implement the areas of agreement, clarify areas of disagreement and find solutions.
Now therefor resolve:
1. To convene an urgent meeting with minister to correct the fundamental disagreements and find solutions.
2. To continue to address issues of corporate governance non-compliance.
3. The board will report to its members on a monthly basis.”
