Sascoc deputy ‘quit over transfers’

SA SPORTS Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) deputy president Hajera Kajee said yesterday she had resigned from the body’s investment arm because she did not want to be implicated in certain money transfers.

She was giving evidence to the ministerial committee of inquiry into Sascoc’s governance matters which got a first-hand taste of the boardroom battles as four members of the split executive came face to face at the hearing at the Ellis Park rugby stadium.

Kajee said she had recently resigned as a director of Gride Investments‚ Sascoc’s investment arm which owns shares in gaming outfit Phumelela and was worth almost R100-million.

“Part of that funding‚ we said‚ should be educational bursaries and so forth for athletes who want to study sports management and so forth‚ but now it’s being used within Sascoc for operations‚” Kajee‚ the second-highest ranking board member after president Gideon Sam, said.

“Sascoc does not have money‚ they want to transfer money out of Gride into Sascoc. Funds have been transferred and I’m sure there will be a trail to show what has happened.

“Therefore I resigned as a member with immediate effect because I don’t want to be implicated with that.”

Vice-president Barry Hendrick‚ No 3 in the Sascoc pecking order‚ later accused Kajee of lying about first learning in a board meeting of sexual harassment allegations against chief executive Tubby Reddy‚ who has since been fired.

The board is said to be split between Sam and Reddy.

Much of yesterday’s testimony centred on the process around the dismissal of Reddy‚ chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj and manager Jean Kelly‚ the constitutionality of Sascoc’s 2016 elections‚ and the voting to eliminate one board member last year because the Sascoc executive‚ at 15‚ exceeded the 14 maximum stipulated by its constitution.