Sascoc in dispute with consultant over use of car
● A consultant at the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) was sidelined after being accused of using the organisation’s vehicles without permission and then lying about it, it has emerged.
The allegations against Qondisa Ngwenya are contained in a short report to the Sascoc board by finance committee chair Kobus Marais in November last year.
Ngwenya and Sascoc, though still working together, are in a legal dispute.
Marais wrote in the report he had contacted Ngwenya in September about unauthorised use of Sascoc vehicles. “He then responded ... to me where he admitted to twice [using] the car without authorisation ... from the board or the [acting] CEO.” The knowledge of staff didn’t count, Marais added.
Log book attached
“However, when I requested copies of the Lexus tracker record, it showed at least four times, between July and October 2019, he used this car to travel to, and within, [KwaZulu-Natal].
“He has knowingly misled me to believe it was only twice he used the car, which had turned out to be at least four times.”
According to the log book attached to the report, four trips were made to KwaZulu-Natal between July and September, totalling nearly 6,000km in 18 days.
Ngwenya, in his emailed reply to Marais, said: “At no stage have I used the vehicle for my personal use. At all times when I have used it, it has been for Sascoc business.”
Marais reported the alleged abuse to Gideon Sam [the then president of Sascoc] on September 30 and on October 16 Sam wrote to Ngwenya telling him he would no longer receive a retainer; that his sponsorship-seeking role would no longer be exclusive; and, he would no longer play any role within the management structure at Sascoc.
Sam did not mention the vehicle issue. Ngwenya, also head of marketing company Republicom, formerly Octagon, was made a Sascoc director in the middle of last year, sharing CEO responsibilities with acting CE Ravi Govender
Ngwenya responded through a lawyer, telling Sascoc in a letter dated October 28 that he had a written agreement with the organisation that was supposed to run until August 31 2021. He said Sascoc had changed the terms “without any justifiable reasons” and was in breach for not paying the R60,000 he had invoiced on October 25.
The lawyer wanted Sascoc to negotiate with Ngwenya “in good faith” or else “we are instructed to immediately invoke dispute resolution mechanisms”.
Amicable resolution
In his correspondence to Ngwenya in September, Marais had questioned the validity of his contracts with Sascoc. One wasn’t signed and another hadn’t been approved by the board, he wrote.
Acting Sascoc president Barry Hendricks said the organisation’s lawyer was talking to Ngwenya’s, adding he was confident of an amicable resolution.
He pointed out that Ngwenya had played a role in landing an Olympic broadcast deal with SABC, which is soon to be signed.
Ngwenya declined to give details, saying: “There is a protocol that exists at Sascoc as how to deal with matters. Everything must be dealt with in terms of that protocol.”