Durban – The process to investigate the impasse between Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the country’s Olympic movement, Sascoc, will begin in the next few weeks, mediator Sam Ramsamy revealed on Friday.
ASA were suspended at the end of June by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) after their members ignored sanctions placed on their board.
The suspension was in terms of Clause 9.3 of Sasccoc’s Articles of Association which gave them the power to “suspend, fine and terminate” the membership of any federation which infringed the Sascoc constitution or brought the organisation into disrepute.
Ramsamy, South Africa’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, was subsequently appointed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to resolve the matter of ASA's suspension, along with Cheikh Thiare, the executive assistant to the world body’s president Lamine Diack.
“I had a long discussion with the president of the IAAF in Buenos Aires these past few days and he proposed that together with his officer Cheikh Thiare, his executive assistant, we resolve the matter as speedily as possible,” Ramsamy said in Durban on Friday.
He was only just returning from the Argentinian capital where the IOC held their 125th Session.
Ramsamy revealed that no time-frame had been given to resolve the matter, but vowed to get to the bottom of what appears to be one of the country’s most troubled sports bodies.
“We don’t know what the challenges will be,” he explained. “We have to go there (ASA meeting) with an open mind. I don’t like to point any fingers.
“We have to find out what the issues are and resolve them, that’s our job. I’ve worked on issues like this in many sports and have always been successful.”
Earlier in June, the IAAF reaffirmed their support for the elected ASA board members, led by embattled president James Evans.
The IAAF refused to recognise the Sascoc-appointed ASA administrator Zola Majavu, tasked with solving the association's financial problems. – Sapa