Troubled Sascoc to name team

Commonwealth Games in picture

Amid the dark cloud that has been hovering over SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) in the past few weeks, the organisation is in the process of announcing Team SA to the Commonwealth Games in April.

Sascoc plans to send 193 athletes to the multi-coded event in the Gold Coast, Australia, according to acting chief executive Patience Shikwambana.

“All systems are in place and we are at an advanced stage for team announcement on January 30,” Shikwambana said yesterday.

“In terms of the team size, we have estimated 193 athletes, inclusive of team sports.”

Shikwambana took over from Tubby Reddy after the latter was fired over allegations of sexual harassment.

Asked if Sascoc had the funds to deliver the team, Shikwambana said: “The budget is R17-million to deliver the team. We have a challenge as you know [that] we have been clouded with what has been happening [in reference to the debacle around Reddy].

“We are engaging the department [of sport and recreation] to contribute. We do get [a] travel grant from the Commonwealth Games Federation, which is not not much but it will assist.”

Meanwhile, the Sascoc board, led by president Gideon Sam, met with Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi on Monday “to review the work of Sascoc and to process the update report on team preparation and delivery to the Commonwealth Games”.

“The meeting considered the Zulman Ministerial Committee of inquiry into the governance matters of Sascoc... to address the current governance challenges facing the entire Sascoc,” Nxesi said in a statement yesterday.

The inquiry, which starts next month, was established by Nxesi to probe allegations of maladministration at Sascoc.