It seems another name for South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympics Commitee ( SASCOC) is controversy as it has swimmed itself to another one. The fresh one bother on the body bringing disciplinary action against suspended acting president Barry Hendricks.
Even though Hendricks was cleared by the arbitrator‚ the Sascoc board has maintained his suspension‚ on the advice of the judicial body chair.
Edeling, the judicial body chair told acting CEO Ravi Govender in an e-mail that Hendricks should face disciplinary action.
“The initiators and myself had further discussions this morning‚” he wrote on July 13. “It was concluded that a disciplinary process should be instituted against Hendricks.
However‚ four of the seven people whose names have been linked to the judicial body have told Business Day they had not been appointed and they had not been involved in any aspect of the Hendricks disciplinary process.
Either way‚ the fact is that four of those named judicial body members — Sinawo Makangela‚ Richard Manyisane‚ Willie Small and the only woman‚ Chantelle Nkubungu confessed they had never been appointed.
Makangela‚ Manyisane and Nkubungu were contacted by telephone‚ and Small by e-mail.
Amid confusion over the judicial body‚ some federations wrote to the Sascoc board.
The board responded by pointing to another clause in the Sascoc constitution that allows the judicial body to co-opt members.
That clause reads: “The judicial body may from time to time co-opt members to assist with specific legal matters or disputes.”
The board’s response reads: “It may therefore not necessarily be that only the persons listed above [the seven names that were discussed by the general assembly in June 2019] will preside over every dispute but other competent persons‚ apart from those on the list of persons listed above‚ will be co-opted from time to time as the circumstances of each case dictate.
“The judicial body is currently in place and functioning under the chairmanship of advocate Edeling.”
When asked on WhatsApp for the identity of the judicial body members‚ Sascoc’s acting CEO replied with a list of names that matched the original seven — Edeling‚ Small‚ Manyisane‚ Nkubungu‚ Makangela‚ Marius Oosthuizen and Johannes Bakker.
He then added: “These were the names submitted to the chair — he has the authority to co-opt or select people he feels have the requisite expertise. The [judicial body] is independent of the board.”
When Edeling was asked who the other members of the judicial body were and when they were appointed‚ he replied: “I unfortunately cannot discuss professional volunteers who availed themselves to serve.”
Sascoc acting president Skhosana was adamant the judicial body was never rejected by the general assembly in 2019‚ and added that other matters‚ apart from the Hendricks issue‚ had also been referred to them by the Sascoc board.
Yet the identity of the judicial body members‚ and how and when they were appointed‚ remains a mystery — SA sport’s very own Secret Seven.
The judicial body is actually a relatively new addition to the Sascoc anatomy‚ being added to the constitution in June 2018.
A year later the board unveiled a seven-person judicial body to the general assembly — the body’s highest decision-making body — but the sports bodies that comprise Sascoc were unhappy.
Some federations complained that their nominations had not been considered by the board.
DiscernSport