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Water polo faction lobbies to break away from erring Swimming South Africa

Water polo faction lobbies to break away from erring Swimming South Africa
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
3 Nov 2024
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A growing faction of disgruntled water polo members is looking to rid itself of Swimming South Africa and run its own operations.

A faction of Water Polo South Africa is threatening to break away from Swimming South Africa (SSA) to start its own federation.

The dismayed faction called a town hall meeting in Cape Town this month in which members of the water polo committee were invited to join. There were more than 100 attendees, 96% of whom voted to leave SSA and start their own organisation.

In the coming months similar meetings are planned in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the two largest water polo-playing provinces apart from the Western Cape.

The decision to part ways with the mother body is borne out of frustration over SSA’s decisions regarding water polo. Attempts to engage with SSA on its management style have all been met with the same outcome – its obduracy.

Olympic snub


SSA is the umbrella federation that oversees and manages swimming, open water swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming, which are all Olympic sports.

Both the men’s and women’s national water polo teams have been on a downward trajectory for years, and the sport has regularly been shaken by SSA’s documented mistreatment of players and coaches.

The swimming body’s decision not to send the men’s and women’s water polo teams to the Paris Olympic Games this year was the final straw for the dissident faction.

There was a bit of controversy about the decision, given that SSA’s criteria for participation at the Games was a top-12 finish at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February to prove their competitiveness on the international stage, which the teams did not achieve.

Read more: Troubled waters — SA water polo feels the lack of love from governing body

But nothing was done to help them perform to their potential. In fact, it could be argued that they were hindered by SSA’s lack of clarity and opportunities to prepare, which is what the new water polo faction is aiming to fix.

But this was just one complaint among “several issues stemming from poor governance”, according to a pre-town hall document shared by the faction.

Full list of reasons to leave:



  • Lack of minutes and records – no transparency of process;

  • No visible budget or bank account for water polo. No indication of how the budget is spent or how tours are costed or allocated;

  • No voice and no interaction for the water polo community by the leadership;

  • Lack of structure in Olympic and senior national programmes;

  • The water polo technical committee (WPTC) has become ceremonial with a mounting track record showing a lack of ability to have a voice to steer the sport;

  • WPTC appointments made downwards from SSA executives, which ensures they have “yes” candidates. A string of resignations over the past 15 years from people getting frustrated at having no say;

  • Last-minute coaching appointments;

  • Absence of any medium- or long-term planning;

  • Significant and worsening drop-off in player participation from post-school into university (ages 20-35);

  • Low opportunity for the development of high-level players; and

  • No transformation strategy.


No let-up


Concerns about the governance of water polo in South Africa have continued to pile up since the Olympic debacle.

This year’s provincial Currie Cup tournament was cancelled, and the players who had declined to participate were prohibited from national team selection despite the tournament not having gone ahead.

On 1 October, the acting convenor of the WPTC confirmed “that all players from teams who did not compete at Nationals are excluded from SA selection”, according to official correspondence.

This ruling was formally challenged by the chairpersons of Cape Town Water Polo and KwaZulu-Natal Water Polo, to no avail.

Three days later, 4 October, was the deadline for eligible players to indicate their availability for national selection.

“As of this deadline... 90% of the premier league players in our Cape Town metro will be automatically excluded from being eligible for upcoming SA senior team selection based on an arbitrary interpretation of those players not participating in nationals – an event that did not happen.

“Players are essentially being personally blamed for Currie Cup not happening and punished for not being in attendance to a tournament that never occurred.

“We feel this is evidence of manipulation and unfair treatment and we as a committee cannot sit back and watch this happen to all our aspiring talent.”

Laws for governing bodies


To run water polo in South Africa, the new, separate faction needs to be recognised by World Aquatics (formerly Fina) ahead of SSA, which is no small task. It is also why gaining support from the other metros in the country is so important.

World Aquatics’ constitution stipulates that only one national governing body can rule over its aquatic sports, according to law 5.2. But when there is more than one national body governing a sport, World Aquatics will judge the merits of each claim for recognition on a “case-by-case basis”, depending on which body serves the athletes of the sport best, according to law 5.5.

That is why gaining the support from water polo members throughout the country is important to the faction.

Growing pains


Although the rebel faction has grown, it has not yet been able to convince members with the most on the line – the players.

The looming threat of suspension from playing water polo provincially or nationally hangs over the heads of athletes who participate in the faction meetings.

Cape Town Metro Water Polo and Western Cape Aquatics have also not seen eye to eye on the developments of the rogue faction.

“It is unfortunate that we continue to revisit the discussion of a breakaway organisation,” a letter dated 15 October from Western Cape Aquatics to Cape Town Metro Water Polo read.

“If this path is pursued and the water polo community chooses to proceed, clubs that join this movement will be suspended from the federation and will be barred from participating in any SSA events, including upcoming squad selection camps. Furthermore, coaches, players and officials associated with these clubs will also be suspended.

“The most effective way to create change is to reform and strengthen water polo within the existing SSA structures.”

This came after Western Cape Aquatics rejected a proposal to restructure water polo within SSA’s structures in July.

Whether the attempted move by water polo to break away provokes SSA to improve remains to be seen. Based on its decisions in the past, it is highly unlikely.

It is now up to the new faction to garner enough support to go up against the powerful SSA machine.

SSA president Alan Fritz did not respond to an email request from Daily Maverick in response to the breakaway movement, and CEO Shaun Adriaanse claimed he didn’t know about the move. He has subsequently been sent a public document outlining the ambitions and reasoning of the faction. DM

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

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