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Administrative ineptitude and shifting the blame are the hallmarks of Athletics South Africa

Administrative ineptitude and shifting the blame are the hallmarks of Athletics South Africa
An elated Prudence Sekgodiso moments after winning the women’s 800m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on 23 March. Photo: Lintao Zhang/ Getty Images
Yanga Sibembe
By Yanga Sibembe
6 Apr 2025
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Athletics South Africa's deregistration because it ignored the CIPC rules is a sign of the sports body’s incompetence.

Whereas athletes try their best to represent South Africa admirably, it seems as though the country’s sports federations always try hardest to outshine each other in being incompetent.

Athletics South Africa (ASA) became the latest sports body to audition for the role when the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) deregistered it as a company.

The deregistration in February was a result of ASA failing to file its annual returns and pay its company fees, despite numerous reminders from the CIPC to comply. The commission uses these details to ensure it has a company’s latest information and to confirm that it is still an active entity.

When the CIPC notified ASA that it had been deregistered, it was because the athletics body had last filed its returns in 2021, when James Moloi became its president. Despite the gravity of the matter and the bad light in which it put ASA, management sought to downplay the issue, with Moloi calling it a “minor problem”.

Account in Parliament


Moloi and his colleagues were hauled before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee for Sport, Arts and Culture on Tuesday, 1 April. The deregistration matter was at the top of the agenda, but ASA once again painted its administrative blunder as an insignificant inconvenience that has since been resolved.

It told the committee the “good news” of Prudence Sekgodiso’s historic victory in the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in China, which was complemented by Akani Simbine’s bronze in the 60m sprint. It also highlighted the achievements of sprinting sensation Bayanda Walaza under its watchful eye. The teenager is the junior world champion in the 100m and 200m.

The committee would not be distracted, though, and ASA ducked and dived with the agility of Keanu Reeves in The Matrix film franchise.

Shirking responsibility


The federation’s longtime acting chief executive, Terrence Magogodela, pointed the finger at ASA’s auditors, Tundra Tax & Accounting.

“We are running a very professional federation, even with our challenges. But for the purpose of this [presentation], I would like to say that we’ve ceded all the matters relating to the CIPC to our auditors. Every financial year they are the ones who submit all these matters on our behalf,” Magogodela said.

Committee member Eugene Mthethwa of the EFF rightly pointed out that ASA had dragged its feet and ignored numerous reminders from the CIPC.

“The issue of deregistration by the CIPC doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process. They remind you and remind you. Up until you were deregistered, it must have taken months [for things to reach that point],” he said.

Under more pressure from the committee members, Magogodela ultimately conceded that it was his and ASA accountant Mphoase Shembeni’s responsibility to ensure that the organisation complied with the CIPC’s rules.

Athletics SA An elated Prudence Sekgodiso moments after winning the women’s 800m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on 23 March 2025. (Photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)



Nevertheless, Magogodela added: “We speedily resolved the matter of bringing ASA back to its compliance. We managed to get our CIPC records and ASA was registered once more. But we still have to solve this issue of multiple tax numbers… That process is ongoing.”

Magogodela said the organisation’s issues with the South African Revenue Service revolved around multiple tax numbers linked to ASA in the tax collector’s database, which he attributed to the previous management. He said the matter would be resolved soon and ASA would have a single tax number.

“There were no negative effects on the athletes for the period where we were busy solving this matter,” he added. “Athletes were performing all over the country. Our athletes went to China and performed very well… There was no interruption at all. Everything went smoothly.”

Compromised CEO


Mthethwa was also critical of Magogodela, saying he was a compromised individual for having to pay the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) R388,733, including legal costs, for his alleged involvement in the squandering of National Lotteries Commission funds meant to develop a sports facility.

“The settlement with the SIU is an admission of guilt,” said Mthethwa. “It’s a very serious issue when one indirectly admits to guilt by settling. It means you have done something wrong.

“For someone who is an accounting officer for an organisation like Athletics SA, which receives public funds, you should have recused yourself from that position because you are not trustworthy.”

Who’s to blame?


Former ASA president James Evans weighed in on the matter in a lengthy social media post, saying the federation’s leadership had shown gross incompetence in how it handled this matter. 

“In the naïve hope that someone will be held accountable, who should be? Firstly, the ASA board members were fully aware of the problem. The final deregistration notice was emailed to each of them separately on 5 February 2025,” Evans wrote.

“They were each notified on 1 January 2025 that the annual returns were due and that a failure to file (returns) would lead to deregistration. They had already been notified of this on 2 December 2024. On 8 November 2024 they received an email to file the 2024 annual return. They get this every year. None of this is confidential information, it is on the CIPC website,” he stated.

“Certainly, the executive directors have to take full responsibility for the failure to file the annual returns. They are Willie Jacobs, James Moloi, Nontathu Gwadiso, Esther Malema, Shireen Noble, Jazz Mnyengeza and William Mokatsanyane. If they are executive directors, they cannot blame anyone else.”

Though the issue has since been remedied and ASA is again listed as an active company on the CIPC website, it had the potential to be a disaster. After ASA’s deregistration, contracts signed with sponsors and broadcasters were in doubt, as was the overall state of athletics in the country.

Even with the saga resolved, stakeholders will look at the leadership of ASA with disdain. This contempt for the brass is likely to show itself when the federation holds its quadrennial elections in May to choose new leaders. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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