TSA set to investigate claims

TENNIS South Africa has appointed a high-profile independent subcommittee to investigate the allegations against its president

Gavin Crookes and board member Muditambi Ravele.

The decision to appoint the committee was taken by Tennis SA’s Risk, Social and Ethics Committee.

Both Crookes and Ravele have both taken a voluntary leave of absence from their tennis duties while the sub-committee review their conduct.

The charge against Crookes is that he commented on Ravele’s standing as a candidate for the presidency of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

Crookes’ comment followed a discussion he had with Sascoc’s acting president Barry Hendricks, who was of the view that Ravele did not have strong claims to being voted the president of Sascoc.

Ravele felt that her fellow TSA board members were influenced when Crookes shared Hendricks’ views in an email.

She became angry as she felt her claims had taken a knock and lodged a complaint with Sascoc and Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa.

Initially, Ravele was so disheartened by the turn of events that she withdrew her Sascoc nomination. Later, however, she changed her mind and again added her name to the nomination list.

The sub-committee includes two females and a male.

Neo Dongwana made headlines in February this year when she was appointed as an independent chairperson of the Board of Directors of Barloworld. She became the first woman to hold the position.

Dongwana will be joined by Thembisa Skweyiya, who is wellknown in the corporate world.

Given her extensive corporate finance expertise, she has served in various positions in companies such as Citigroup, Nedbank Capital, Rothschild and Woolworths. In addition, she was also a member of the New York State Bar Association and council member at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The third member is retired Judge Burton Fourie, a long-standing and respected member of the Western Cape High Court and acting member of the Supreme Court of Appeal.

In the past few years, he served on various commissions which dealt with delicate matters such as labour disputes.

Tennis SA has not given the committee a time frame to complete their review.

The election of a new Sascoc president was initially set for March 28, 2020. However, the election has been postponed and no new set date has been set.

Hendricks is also on leave pending the outcome of an investigation which is looking into an allegation that he interfered in the nomination of Ravele.