Swimming SA executive board fights on for extended terms despite failures under its watch

SSA President Alan Fritz. (Photo: Wessel Oosthuizen / Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

24 Feb 2025

When is a duck not a duck? When Swimming South Africa’s executive board is involved, it seems.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it just might not quite be a duck, according to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and its lawyers.

Swimming South Africa’s (SSA) executive board, despite appearing to have violated its own constitution, have so far escaped unscathed, thanks to a legal opinion which suggests there is a constitutional loophole to be exploited.

tatjana smith swimming south africa Tatjana Smith in action in the women’s 100m breaststroke during the SA National Aquatic Championships on 12 April 2024 at Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha. (Photo: Anton Geyser / Gallo Images)

There was considerable expectation of a very different outcome after Sascoc president Barry Hendricks told the parliamentary portfolio committee for sport that the legal opinion of the validity of SSA’s executive board member election was ready last week.

Instead, what Sascoc’s lawyers HJW Attorneys opined was that SSA is within its rights to have permitted the current executive board members to stand for re-election.

Four of SSA’s executive board members, including president Alan Fritz, who ran unopposed last year, were re-elected to the board at the swimming federation’s quadrennial annual general meeting in 2024.

This is despite serving terms longer than the SSA constitution stipulates.

Article 6.2.3 of the SSA constitution reads: “The term of office for all Executive Members will be limited to three consecutive periods.”

Fritz is in his sixth consecutive term, for a total of 24 years at the executive level.

SSA President Alan Fritz. (Photo: Wessel Oosthuizen / Gallo Images)

SSA had argued that because its constitution had changed in 2018 to limit the number of terms an executive member could hold a position, any period spent as an executive member before the change did not count.

It’s an outlandish stance, but one that was seemingly accepted by HJW Attorneys, who supported SSA’s view that despite the quacking, waddling and paddling, this was not the duck it purported to be.

It is not yet understood whether the stance of HJW Attorneys corresponds with Sascoc’s official position.

It is one of several questions put by Daily Maverick to Sascoc last week that has not yet been answered. SSA also never responds to Daily Maverick queries, adding to the image of an organisation that detests scrutiny, even for the most routine inquiries.

It took the HJW lawyers nearly six months to reach its conclusion after a letter of complaint sent by SSA member Matt Kemp.

Dispute resolution

Vice-president Jace Naidoo has been on the SSA executive committee since 1999 while Zikie Molusi and John Ellis are in their fourth term.

But it’s not the end of the matter.

Kemp, who is also a director at Becker Kemp Attorneys, has challenged the findings by HJW Attorneys as he continues to dispute the legality of the executive members’ standing.

Kemp argues that “there remains a fundamental difference in interpretations of the provision” and that despite the vague wording of Sascoc in its communication – it seemed to imply that the matter was (somehow), on receipt of the opinion, resolved – he claims that resolution of the dispute has only just begun.

Sascoc’s constitution itself outlines that this matter should be escalated to its adjudicatory body, but whether it does happen remains to be seen.

This is a similar tactic to that used several times by SSA, where it has opted to go quiet in the hope that the heat dies down, peoples’ attention drifts and all will eventually be forgotten.

This time, however, Kemp, with several other members of SSA, has opted to continue to fan the flames.

Day-to-day troubles

What purpose does the constitutional change serve if SSA can essentially ignore it and wipe clean board members’ terms as if they never happened?

The fact is that members have served their maximum permitted number of terms, as allocated by the SSA constitution.

Whether those terms were served before the constitution was changed or after should be irrelevant. The reason the constitution was changed was to prevent stale leadership and to “encourage training in leadership”, as Naidoo himself had previously said to Parliament.

Yet he, and the other three executive members, refuse to step aside. It’s an abuse of power which Sascoc and its lawyers, who took five-and-a-half months to share a two-page document in support of the swimming federation, look satisfied to allow to continue.

The way the principle is argued by SSA, the body could very well change the constitution again before the next quadrennial annual general meeting in 2028. It could allow X number of terms, and each member could serve the X number of terms again with their slate wiped clean.

It’s a ridiculous ruling and begs the question – what do these officials have to hide that they’re clinging to power in any way possible?

As farcical as that scenario may sound, it’s exactly what has occurred in this situation.

Besides the overall absurdity of it, the current SSA executive committee has also overseen a few of the country’s most scandalous years in the water.

Last year, both men’s and women’s water polo dreams were dashed when their opportunity of a second Olympic showing (post-apartheid) were snatched away from them by SSA — which withdrew the teams due to arbitrary performance standards.

SSA was also in court at the back end of last year to explain the termination of memberships after members lodged complaints about the federation.

Also, artistic swimming pair Laura Strugnell and Jessica Hayes-Hill have sued SSA for north of R7-million for the federation’s hand in the pair not qualifying for the Olympic Games last year.

Not only are they serving for longer than their own constitution permits, but they’re also doing a poor day-to-day job in their extended terms. DM

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