NSA’S internal battles intensify as federations take aim at president
Allegations are that Netball SA president Cecilia Molokwane is systematically removing threats to her re-election. She strongly denies this. By
Squabbles off the netball court are threatening to derail the strides that the sport has made after hosting the World Cup last year. At the centre of this is Netball South Africa (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane.
Molokwane is a former netball player and coach. She also served on the national executive as director of selection, and has been at the helm of NSA since the tail-end of 2017.
She was re-elected as head honcho of NSA in 2021, and is the president of Netball Africa. The highlight of her tenure is undoubtedly bringing the World Cup to Africa.
Over the past few years, she has had to fend off various allegations levelled against her by former members of NSA, as well as by some people actively involved in the running of the sport at provincial and district level.
In 2023, former NSA employees made a number of allegations against Molokwane. In a 20-minute documentary put together by Afriforum, the former vice-president of NSA, Christine du Preez, and the former Netball SA director of umpires, Annie Kloppers, were among those who pointed a finger at Molokwane.
Their accusations included racism, mismanagement and interference when it comes to selections.
Asked by Daily Maverick to respond to these allegations during a press conference in 2023, Molokwane swatted them aside.
“A dog will never bark at a stationary car. A dog will always bark at a moving car. It means there is something good that I’m doing,” she said.
Fresh allegations
Molokwane is again in the spotlight in 2024. This time, sources allege that she is systematically removing people she thinks will not back her for a third term as president in the NSA elections next year.
NSA and Gauteng Netball are engaged in a fierce battle after the national federation disbanded the executive of the provincial structure. In an internal letter dated 7 March, which is in Daily Maverick’s possession, Molokwane stated the reasons for the dismantling of the structure.
They include alleged instances of malpractice and maladministration, particularly the failure to provide information and follow procedures, as well as inadequate recordkeeping. Structural and protocol dysfunctionality plus a lack of transparency were cited in Molokwane’s communiqué.
But NSA’S decision was drastic and there were other avenues it could have taken to try to resolve whatever concerns it had before disbanding the Gauteng executive, said a source who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
“What happens is that, as the national federation, it has the obligation to visit district structures and provincial structures in order to assess their functionality,” the source told Daily Maverick.
“The whole point of that functionality
visit is to find what’s missing, give them support and develop them, so that they do things as the national federation requires. It’s not the purpose of the visit to dismantle structures.
“But whatever mistakes she [Molokwane] finds there, instead of developing those people or giving them support, she would disband them – disband the whole structure,” the source said.
The allegation is that Molokwane is using her powers as president to remove members of the national organisation whom she views as being a threat. This claim is strengthened by statements by Gauteng Netball’s president, Khosi Dlamini, that she and her organisation were not informed by NSA of the allegations levelled
against them in Molokwane’s letter.
“It’s troubling that we first learnt about the allegations after NSA had already decided to dissolve the executive committee,” Dlamini said, as quoted by City Press.
“Prior to that, there was never any correspondence in which we were requested to reply to the claims made in the letter.”
Dented name
Molokwane rubbished the claims during a telephone conversation with Daily Maverick, saying her name was being tarnished by “unknown people” who fight their battles through the media.
“I don’t respond to people who are unknown. If you can write that in black and white, and put it to me in black and white so that I know who I’m responding to,” she said. “I’m tired of being accused of things that I don’t know about, and by people who are protected. If you accuse me, you must be brave enough to say, I am Cecilia Molokwane and I’m accusing so-and-so of this and that. That’s fair.”
She said: “I cannot take such a bold decision to disband a province without proof. There is no way. It’s not about me. It’s about Netball South Africa. We can’t take such a decision without proof, because now it’s like I’m the monster here. It cannot be.
“My name has been dented. It’s enough. Netball is not going to take my name down like that. I’m a woman of God. I respect people and I will do the right thing. As a human being, somewhere, somehow, I will do wrong things. But I’ve grown to learn to apologise when I’m wrong.
“As much as I put it in black and white to say I’m disbanding you, people [who accuse me of these things] must put it in black and white… People cannot run to the media and
think because of that, we’ll be scared. No, I’m not [scared].”
Daily Maverick’s source also said they had heard that the next provincial structures that would face Molokwane’s axe are the Eastern Cape Netball Association and Kwazulu-natal Netball.
In fact, in another internal Netball SA communiqué that has been seen by Daily Maverick, dated 26 February 2024, there is a recommendation that the Eastern Cape executive also be dismantled and that “an interim structure is put in place to get their house in order”.
This came after the national federation alleged that the hierarchy of the Eastern Cape structure failed to inform it that it was holding elections.
The Kwazulu-natal netball structure has also faced the wrath of NSA after challenging the procedures that were followed when the national federation altered its constitution in March 2023. Kwazulu-natal Netball alleges that the constitution of NSA was altered unethically, with processes being flouted, including checking whether the 75% majority needed to greenlight constitutional changes was reached.
It has written to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) as a result. Kwazulu-natal Netball also voiced its concerns over Molokwane’s previous affiliation with Sascoc, where she served as a board member.
“Every structure in the country, including the national structure, reports to the council – the 54 members of NSA. The council is the ultimate body that controls netball in the country,” alleged a source.
“At the moment, the council has no say in what goes on in Netball South Africa,” they added, insinuating abuse of power from the head of the NSA hierarchy.