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 More scandal in SA athletics!
    November 06 2009 at 01:27PM Get IOL on your
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Elite South African athletes and a national coach have stood up against Athletics South Africa (ASA) for alleged incompetence.

Much of the criticism in a joint statement revolved around the team managers at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in August, including ASA president Leonard Chuene's personal assistant, Humile Bogatsu, and ASA events manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane.

Chuene, Bogatsu and Tsholetsane were all suspended, along with other ASA employees and board members including general manager Molatelo Malehopo, by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) on Thursday for their handling of the Caster Semenya gender debacle.

And some of the athletes who competed in Berlin, including former world junior 200m champion Paul Gorries, Magda Botha, the team's sprint coach and former Olympic walker Nicolene Cronje, have hit out at them with claims of mismanagement and racism.
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'they were flitting around My Chuene'
"They were besotted with power - constantly trying to show the athletes who is boss," said Gorries, who ran the 4X400m relay in Berlin.

"Phiwe knows nothing about athletics. Her comments showed this clearly! Hendrick (Mokganyetsi, team manager) was aggressive towards everybody and made numerous wrong decisions.

"Humile is nothing more than a secretary - she knows nothing about managing a team. She was also flown back and forth between Germany and SA, at ASA's cost (to write exams).

"They (Tsholetsane and Bogatsu) were constantly shopping and not giving attention to what they were there for - managing the team. Or they were flitting around My Chuene.

"We were castigated because we did not, according to them, support Caster, but not one of them was at Khotso's (Mokoena) or Mbulaeni's (Mulaudzi) medal ceremonies."

'There is so much more that is happening in SA athletics'
An anonymous athlete who competed in Berlin, as well as the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, said the 2009 World Championships "was the worst ever".

The unnamed athlete, who referred to the global showpiece as "bootcamp", said there was "no communication" from management.

Botha said the team managers had "no experience", adding that Tsholetsane "knows nothing of athletics" and Bogatsu "made no contribution to the team at all."

She added that the tests conducted on world 800m champion Semenya had been handled "completely wrongly" and that Chuene, who later admitted to lying about the tests, had tried to force the team to cover up the mess management had created.

"In the last meeting before our return, Leonard tried to convince us this was the best team management ever in the history of SA athletics and that, if we had a problem, we had to remember we are a family and a family does not speak out.

"It was clear what he was trying to say - that nothing from Berlin should be discussed with anyone on our return."

Cronje, who has not competed since she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2007, said she had been physically assaulted by Malehopo at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, when she was 19 years old.

"Molatelo Malehopo called me aside together with Snowy Matthews and Magda Botha and he lost his temper," she recalled.

"He smacked me several times in the face, to the extent that Snowy had to come between us and stop him.

"The next day Leonard Chuene called me in and asked me what happened. I told him, and his words to me were: "My child, should this get out to the press or your family, your athletics career is over. Let's pretend it never happened".

Cronje said she hoped to compete again but was worried about the state of the sport.

"There is so much more that is happening in SA athletics and I am not sure if we will ever get to the bottom of it," she said.

"Sponsors withdrawing, cheap clothing being issued to athletes, money disappearing, athletes being mistreated, bad accommodation and food for athletes... and so the list goes on." - Sapa

Showing page 1 of 4 comment pages, 38 total comments
1 Week ago Ashamed wrote :
These people (at ASA) who have just been fired, or not - I can see an even longer holiday while they are under suspension, taking full pay and crying about their constitutional rights being affected - are not the right people to lead athletics or our athletes into the future. From the beginning, ASA has done nothing to further athletics. Those sportspeople who are desparate to succeed and do well would be advised to go to US varsities where they will be properly looked after. An indication of the excellence of ASA and SASCOC et al is that one tiny Zimbabwe girl won more medals than our entire Olympics team! ASA are gone (hopefully) and we shall mourn them not.
1 Week ago Se maar net wrote :
So Tebza are you saying that the athlete who stated she was slapped through the face is a liar? What about Eskom management? Did the blackouts occur or not? What about the damage to the economy? The number of people who died as a result of the blackouts in the hospitals? Do you think everything gets to the media? Under Manual and Mboweni South Africa has had more consecutive quarters of economic growth that at any time in South Africa's written recorded history. So it is not true that "no African is competent". Just acknowledge it when you're dealing with a liar.
2 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
I went to Athens to watch my brother compete in the Olympics in 2004.. I stayed at the same hotel that these officials and management stayed at, all they were there for was the free holiday, they sat at the hotel all day eating and drinking, all with serious chips on their shoulders.. None of them knew anything about sport, and when a party was thrown for some of the medal winners, they had no idea who the medal winners were or what sport they won the medals in..
2 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
whats new this bullshit has been going on from waaaay back , ramsammy and his small dido and his family all went along for freebees to Olympics and other events, I can tell you stories about these idiots , will make your hair ( black or white ) stand on end, they all have their own interests at heart, if they had a heart . , so angry I will just end now
2 Weeks ago Achillies Heel wrote :
Same bulsh*t, different department/association. Why do people think that because they were freedom fighters that they can manage a department or association.
2 Weeks ago tamtam wrote :
heh. Phonebooth, didn't Botha coach? Cronje do the long walk????
2 Weeks ago Precious wrote :
I am ashamed of being black and want to have an operation to make myself white. Should I do this? I am beautifull though!
2 Weeks ago to who it may concern wrote :
I personally know Hendrick (Mokganyetsi, team manager) he work in my section when he worked in the GPO, he is the biggest bs you can find, we banned him from using various services in the GPO, psychometrics etc., his then trainer dumped him(ritmeester), so I do not believe a word he says and as far as Leonard is concerned I even trust him less going by his actions. Both of these pr#cks cannot even manage a tuck-shop never mind manage an Olympic team.
2 Weeks ago khanyo wrote :
add the story to SABC, ESKOM, TELKOM overpricing, ARMSKOR and the like and you can sum up the degree of responsability of SOME of our Black managers and officials. there is nothing to be said otherwise I am going to be labelled a racist !
2 Weeks ago Two Steel Balls wrote :
3 Athletics bosses - US, British & SA - were locked in solitary confinement each with 2 steel balls. 3 months later, the US guy was found bench pressing the balls and was built like a pwerhouse. he'd made a gym out of them. The Brit had wedged them into a corner and was sitting on them like a chair. He'd made furniture. The SA guy had broken one and lost the other. Then went shopping on his release.
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