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South Africa, Sport, DM168

New water polo body makes a big splash as Swimming South Africa clings to power

New water polo body makes a big splash as Swimming South Africa clings to power
South African goalkeeper Grant Belcher gets ready to defend against Shea Buckner of the US in an international water polo match (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
6 Apr 2025
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Swimming South Africa’s mismanagement of water polo has led to disgruntled members forming an opposing organisation.

The road to determining who will govern water polo is likely to play out in court, with Swimming South Africa (SSA) refusing to let go of its arm while SA Water Polo (SAWP) makes waves.

Members of the water polo community have long felt like the black sheep of the SSA family, with its sibling swimming being the golden child. Diving, artistic swimming and open-water swimming also squabble for the scraps.

This is for several reasons that have arisen over a number of years, with the executive committee of SSA barely changing since the turn of the millennium. But animosity reached boiling point in 2024 when the national men’s and women’s  water polo teams were not sent to the Olympic Games in Paris – despite qualifying as the best-placed continental sides – because of arbitrary, self-imposed qualification standards set by SSA.

It all boiled over a few weeks ago when SSA’s plan to implement an independent committee to help with the shortcomings at water polo fell apart. The person SSA intended to hire as executive director of the committee, Stefano Vigoriti, failed to come to an agreement with the organisation on what changes needed to be made, and how to see water polo thrive.

This led to SAWP launching officially, having been canvassing in the background for months. This came just days after SSA revealed a “strategic framework” that closely resembles the original plans laid out by Vigoriti, but without Vigoriti leading its own independent committee.

Consistent mismanagement


Despite SSA’s plans to correct its mismanagement through its newly implemented “strategic framework”, the poor management has continued.

Take, for example, the Africa Aquatics Development Water Polo Tournament, which will be held in Zimbabwe this month. This competition is for under-15 and under-17 boys and girls.

The squads for the continental tournament were only an­nounced by SSA on Tuesday, 18 March. Parents were given three days to confirm their child’s availability and they were required to pay a total of R25,000, in two payments, by Saturday, 5 April - just less than three weeks later. 

According to one parent of an under-15 water polo player, SSA has not communicated the details of the event to any of the parents outside of a social media post that announced the squad.

The parents didn’t even know the tournament was taking place until it was announced on 18 March.

SSA has mismanaged water polo and continues to do so. The administration of the sport is in tatters and its members are the ones who suffer. This is what inspired SAWP – an organisation set on improving the administration of water polo in the country.

water polo Swimming South Africa president Alan Fritz. (Photo: Getty Images)


Struggling leaders


SSA is determined to stop SAWP, however, despite the newly formed autonomous organisation initially welcoming a collaborative effort between the two.

This was quickly declined by SSA, which first sent a “cease and desist” letter to SAWP after the organisation released its letter of intent on social media. After SAWP ignored the threat, an urgent application by SSA at the Cape Town High Court to stop the organisation from operating soon followed.

SSA also found itself in Parliament on Tuesday, fran1 April, answering ministers’ questions about the affairs of aquatics in South Africa.

SSA president Alan Fritz said it was the obligation of SSA to ensure SAWP does not operate, according to SSA’s constitution, and because of that it was forced to take legal action.

Read more: Swimming South Africa dives into court battle with newly formed water polo body

Read more: Swimming South Africa’s water polo arm sinks while new independent body swims

Fritz also admitted that the fact that SAWP is allowed to exist is “a massive governance failure” on the part of SSA. However, he believes the intention of the group is not as pure as SSA was led to believe.

He suggested that there is financial gain to be had in water polo after an individual within water polo, who he did not name, wrote and then sold a coaching manual for R500,000.

Fritz was short on details, but his statement raises more questions than answers. If there are large amounts of money to be made in water polo, why has SSA not tapped into it and used the money to improve the structures around the sport?

Fritz claimed SSA has “gone beyond the call of duty in facility development”, yet stuttered when asked to name one rural area with a functioning swimming pool.

A planned “high-performance” aquatics centre in Franschhoek in the Western Cape has seen no progress more than five years after being publicised. SSA CEO Shaun Adriaanse told the Sunday Times in September 2024 that he hoped it would be open by mid-2025.

South African goalkeeper Grant Belcher gets ready to defend against Shea Buckner of the US in an international water polo match. (Photo: Adam Pretty / Getty Images)


A battle in court


SSA’s urgent application to take SAWP to court initially asked for the date to be set for Wednesday, 2 April or shortly afterwards. However, SSA and SAWP have come to an agreement to have the date postponed so “that the important and complex issues raised therein are properly ventilated”. That was from a joint media release issued by SSA and SAWP.

The most palatable option, according to the joint statement, is to find an amicable middle ground “without recourse to litigation”. However, this seems highly unlikely. Fritz, in his proclamations in Parliament, was adamant that SAWP cannot exist alongside SSA while SAWP continues to search for support for its organisation.

The parties have agreed to certain assurances until the matter is resolved, either inside or outside court. These include no public communication that “denigrates the other party”, no interference with the other party’s communications, and SAWP and its executive committee not being allowed to encourage the boycotting of “events or teams of Swimming South Africa”.

SAWP’s executive committee consists of people who are members of SSA and hold high-ranking positions in provinces across SA. Canvassing for support has thus not been a struggle for the group, which, ­according to the World Aquatics constitution, will be the recognised body of the sport if it holds the majority of support from athletes.

According to sources close to the matter, SAWP currently has more than 500 members, well exceeding SSA’s membership. How this plays out from here will be determined by South Africa’s legal system. DM

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

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