The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) will request the Minister of Sport, Gayton McKenzie, to urgently intervene after South Africa’s most decorated Olympic swimmer, Tatjana Smith, announced that she will henceforth represent the Netherlands in the sport.
Smith’s decision is a final wake-up call about the decline of Swimming South Africa (SSA), warranting urgent steps to save the dysfunctional body from total collapse.<br/>
In the process, the Minister would do well to reflect on his own actions: spending millions on attending sports events while athletes struggle to make ends meet. One such example is the R31 million it cost for the Minister and his entourage to attend the FIFA World Cup.
Any excuse to try and justify spending this much money is unacceptable in a situation where there is no money for athletes.
It is also a direct indictment of SSA’s years of administrative incompetence and financial misconduct, as well as its contemptuous treatment of world-class swimmers who have done South Africa proud for many years.
Smith announced that she is setting her sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but that she will henceforth swim for the Netherlands as she feels “excluded and neglected”, because the system in South Africa is failing athletes.
She even had to call on legal representatives to fight a legal battle to claim her prize money of approximately R578 000, which she had won at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, after SSA withheld it.
The SSA crisis means prospective swimmers are also let down – particularly the less privileged who are deprived of the opportunity to practise the sport seeing as municipal swimming pools nationwide are in an utter state of decay, while millions are squandered on travel, events and failed projects.<br/>
This unbridled decay continued as government stood idly by and looked on. In fact, government not only watched the debacle unfold, but has enthusiastically participated in squandering money that should have been used for athletes who represent their country.<br/>
The poor treatment of a world champion such as Smith is not a one-time occurrence. SSA officials’ shameful conduct regularly make the headlines, for instance, the approximately R50 million wasted since 2023 on the failed, dilapidated High Performance Centre (HPC) in Franschhoek. <br/>
In addition, swimmers are regularly forced to shell out large amounts in order to participate internationally, for example, swimmers were compelled to pay R55 000 out of pocket for the upcoming World Short Course Championships in Beijing. And then, as in Smith’s case, their hard-earned prize money is withheld as well.<br/>
In August this year, this administrative decline warranted international intervention by the World Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU), resulting in the provisional suspension of top SSA officials – such as the President, Alan Fritz, and CEO, Shaun Adriaanse – on allegations of abuse of power, providing false information and forged documents. <br/>
It cannot go on like this. The contemptuous treatment of athletes such as Smith, who proudly waved the country’s national flag on international stages, should not be tolerated and neither should young talent go to waste as a result of apathy and incompetence.
The Minister of Sport, Gayton McKenzie, has had enough time to acquaint himself with the situation.
Investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) are already under way and the Minister must ensure that these are concluded as a matter of urgency. He must also order a thorough, independent judicial inquiry into the operations of Swimming SA.
The organisation has to be brought to order at once, before South Africa loses more excellent swimmers such as Smith.
