CAPE TOWN - Embattled administrator Barry Hendricks will remain wandering in sports wilderness after his disciplinary hearing was deferred by two weeks following the ‘changing of the guard’ ahead of last weekend’s postponed proceedings.
Hendricks, the acting president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), has been charged on two counts, and if found guilty, will be banned from holding a position in the country’s umbrella sports body.
Nande Becker, the well-known Premier Soccer League prosecutor, was called in at the 11th hour to replace the hearing’s officiant who was laid low by Covid-19.
Consequently Becker requested time to prepare for the proceedings which will now go ahead on August 29 in Johannesburg.
Sascoc’s judicial body chairperson Adv Willem Edeling SC will oversee the disciplinary proceedings.
Retired Judge Kathleen Satchwell will be the presiding officer.
She was a prominent human rights attorney in the 1990s and appointed by President Nelson Mandela as a judge of the Gauteng High Court.
Since April, Hendricks has been on mandatory leave when the Sascoc Board acted on allegations that he had prejudiced the candidacy of rivals ahead of the presidential election.
Hendricks, the chairman of Squash South Africa, is hoping to stand as a candidate for the Sascoc presidency when the elections, which were scheduled initially for March 26, are able to eventually take place.
The post became vacant when Gideon Sam stepped down last year when he reached the age of 70 and retired.
The board appointed Athletics South Africa chairman Aleck Skhosana as acting president following Hendricks’ suspension.
@Herman_Gibbs