Mbalula okays ASA event

139 21.01.2016 Kings Park athletics stadium track, that has to be revamped again due to the wrong markings. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

139 21.01.2016 Kings Park athletics stadium track, that has to be revamped again due to the wrong markings. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

Published Apr 30, 2016

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Johannesburg - Athletics SA (ASA) on Friday got the go-ahead to host the Africa Senior Championships from June 22-26 after they were initially banned from hosting or bidding for major international events after failing to meet transformation targets.

This follows a meeting between ASA president Aleck Skhosana, pictured, and the Director General of the Department of Sports and Recreation, Alec Moemi, on Thursday.

”We thank the minister, the DG and the department for the sensitivity they have exercised around this matter,” Skhosana said in a statement on Friday.

“We appreciate,in particular that after our discussions between the two parties, the minister’s office threw their weight behind our hosting of the African Championships which they noted should proceed undisturbed as it had already been in preparation long before the minister's announcement on Monday.

”At the release of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Transformation in Sport’s status report on Monday, Mbalula revoked Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA), ASA and South African Rugby’s (Saru) privileges to host or bid for major and mega international tournaments.

The athletics federation’s ban was largely due to missing deadlines or not making any submissions at all during the auditing process. Skhosana said ASA had acknowledged the areas where they had fallen short of targets, and they have appointed a team to address outstanding issues.

”ASA will re-submit what’s outstanding within the shortest possible time, as we are confident and pride ourselves as one of the best compliant sports federations in South Africa when it comes to transformation,” Skhosana said.”We have identified the relevant glitch or two that have led to ASA being counted among the sports bodies that the Minister referred to. We will ensure this mishap is not repeated.

”The EPG revealed that ASA did not submit any data concerning the demographic representation and participation in primary and senior schools. “In the recent past, this code has been in the midst of a reorganisation initiative, as a result of not insignificant (sic) governance,” the report read.

“School and club structures have been impacted and little reliable data for the past two years was extracted from most provincial structures.”The national athletics office is focusing on this issue and is in the process of resolving it.”

While ASA were among the top performers in terms of the demographic make-up of the administration, they fell short in the average demographic profiles of their teams.According to the report only 23 percent of the teams were black African males and 50 percent generic black while the women’s teams consisted of 11 percent black African and 21 percent generic black.Skhosana said ASA remain in the forefront in ensuring transformation remained in the federation’s day-to-day focus of the sport.

Saturday Star

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