Commission of Inquiry into Sascoc could be the clean-out South African sport so badly requires

WITH less than a month to go to the Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of Sascoc, one can only hope South African sport is on the cusp of a long overdue catharsis.

The disciplinary hearing that led to the dismissal of Sascoc chief executive Tubby Reddy, chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj and sen- ior manager Jean Kelly has exposed some of the skeletons in the Olympic body’s closet.

The trio were sent packing after a disciplinary hearing in December found them guilty of a slew of charges in their absence, but they questioned the credibility of the findings.

Reddy has been found guilty of charges including sexual harassment and financial misappropriation, while there have been revelations of collu- sion with Athletics SA.

The three axed Sascoc employees have made some explosive allegations of their own, revealing the deep division in the leadership in the organisation.

They intimated that money earmarked for athlete development and participation was used to fund the R6.2 million they believed had been paid to Norton Rose Fulbright‚ the law firm which conducted the hearing.

The trio accused Sascoc president Gideon Sam of playing an instrumental part in South Africa losing the rights to host the Commonwealth Games in Durban in 2022.

“There is plenty more that we can say but we will stop at this stage and make our full submission to the Ministers Commission of Inquiry which the Sascoc leadership is trying so hard to discredit and is, in fact, threatening to interdict the Minister,” they wrote in the first of two open letters.

“That is why they had to hastily conclude the disciplinary hearing without giving us a fair hearing so that we could be discredited before we get to the Commission of Inquiry.”

One can only hope that the inquiry led by Judge Ralph Zulman will provide the clean-out South African sport so desperately needs, and expose all the rotten apples.

Zulman said in a statement this week that the mandate of the committee would also “include declared irregularities and malpractices which recently came to the fore by way of the findings, recommendations and actions taken against Tubby Reddy, Vinesh Maharaj and Jean Kelly following a disciplinary hearing in this regard”.

This is an encouraging sign as the committee promises an extensive investigation into the governing body that is supposed to be setting an example for its members across all sporting codes.

The three months set aside for the inquiry would hopefully not disrupt the South African team for the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in Australia but instead, leave sport in the country in a better position.

The Nicholson Ministerial Inquiry into the affairs of cricket in South Africa lead to improved corporate governance of that sport.

This inquiry could have an even greater influence in the way that sport is run in the country by Sascoc and the bulk of other sporting federations.

One can only hope that it does not merely lead to the replacement of one bunch of rotten apples by another.