Athletics SA (ASA) will be writing to World Athletics seeking clarity after the governing body was placed under formal monitoring, acting president John Mathane has confirmed.
ASA was put under monitoring by the international governing body following a series of internal disputes, including last year’s suspension of its president James Moloi.
He was suspended after a forensic report found misuse of the federation’s credit card for personal use, with Mathane now taking over in an acting capacity.
Speaking to Sowetan yesterday, Mathane said they will be writing to World Athletics for clarity on what needs to be done. “All they are saying is they want to check what we are talking about, the suspensions, leadership and governance, how we’re handling them, and how we deal with them,” he said.
“They’re monitoring only what they’re doing from their side; they want to see if things are going well. They’re seeing that we have internal processes. As acting president, we will be checking with World Athletics to ask what they mean.
They have not sent it to us officially. We’re in the process of sending them a letter to say: ‘We saw the list which was published, but we’ve not received it officially.’ It is something everybody wants to see.
“When you’re a parent and you leave your kids sleeping outside, you want to see if they’re safe or not. People think there are conflicts, but we don’t have a problem.”
Maggie Durand, head of communications at World Athletics, reportedly told Public Dispatch, an independent global watchdog publication, that the international body is closely tracking the instability within ASA. “World Athletics is aware of the issues raised relating to governance within ASA,” she was quoted as saying.
“A comprehensive series of reforms and safeguards was presented to World Athletics, and they’re being put in place, and individual suspension has been imposed. World Athletics will continue to monitor the situation and the implementation of these reforms and safeguards.”
The allegations against Moloi first surfaced during ASA’s appearance before the sports, arts and culture parliamentary portfolio committee in June. ASA leaders were also grilled over financial mismanagement and leadership instability, among other things.
Sowetan
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