Sparks fly at Sascoc inquiry

Reddy and Maharaj come under fire at hearing

● Retired judge Ralph Zulman made an unintended, but somewhat amusing gaffe while questioning fired SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) CEO Tubby Reddy this week.

He accidentally called him Mr Guilty. Zulman, head of the three-strong ministerial committee probing Sascoc governance matters, was reading from the findings from Reddy’s disciplinary hearing .

“I find Mr Guilty — Mr Reddy, sorry, guilty of , . .” said Zulman. An honest mistake.

But Zulman’s colleague, labour lawyer Shamima Gaibie, made no error as she accused Reddy of acting in a manner that was “tantamount to fraud” by giving then sport minister Thulas Nxesi a forensic report into Sascoc without mentioning that he and a colleague had authored most of it.

The SS Griffin report was Reddy’s response at the time he was suspended in mid2017, and it helped convince Nxesi to institute this inquiry into Sascoc.

The Sascoc board, widely deemed to be dysfunctional, is split between president Gideon Sam and Reddy, who was fired along with chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj and manager Jean Kelly early this year.

The trio didn’t attend their disciplinary hearing and this week was the first time they presented their case publicly.

Reddy and Maharaj had commissioned SS Griffin to sweep the Sascoc offices and Reddy’s home for illegal bugging devices.

Gaibie, a thorn in the flesh of many a witness during the hearings, pointed out that the SS Griffin component of the 300-odd page report ran to just 12 pages. The rest had been authored by Reddy and Kelly.

Reddy admitted this and conceded further that not mentioning his or Kelly’s contribution had been an error “on my part”.

She asked him if he had informed the minister about this. “I just gave him the report,” replied Reddy. “Well, Mr Reddy, that is tantamount to fraud,” said Gaibie, who also criticised other elements of Reddy’s management.

Reddy’s insistence that two candidates be disqualified from the 2016 Sascoc elections because of an interpretation of a clause in the body’s constitution was “inappropriate”.

“You could have done it a lot more neutrally,” said Gaibie.

“You took a formidable stance, almost as if you were the custodian of determining what interpretation should be given to [the clause in question].”

Maharaj fared no better as he tried to justify one of the disciplinary charges of which he’d been found guilty, of corrupt activity — Sascoc’s travel agent, Fli-Afrika, had paid for renovations to his home.

Maharaj explained he was paying it back through his private account with Fli-Afrika which had been debited for the amount, and then added further that it was common practice to get favours from suppliers.

He said M&M Hiring Marquee had assisted Sam and employee Clifford Cobers with functions for free, while another had given board member Kobus Marais a free suit.

“It sounds to me like a whole bunch of corrupt activities,” Gaibie commented.

Maharaj disagreed, arguing that the service providers had “become part of the family of Olympism”.

Ali Bacher, the third committee member, was also gobsmacked. “I feel strongly as she [Gaibie] does that it’s unacceptable and you see nothing wrong with that?”

Maharaj: “It has been common practice.” “Common practice?” Bacher responded. “But it can’t be right.”

Common practice? But it can’t be right Ali Bacher Ministerial committee member