Barry Hendricks and the bulk of his board are returned to Sascoc helm

30 November 2024 - 14:00
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Barry Hendricks was re-elected Sascoc president on Saturday.
Barry Hendricks was re-elected Sascoc president on Saturday.
Image: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu

Barry Hendricks was re-elected president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) on Saturday afternoon, along with the bulk of the board that has served alongside him the past four years.

Lwandile Simelane remains first vice-president, while Kim Pople was promoted to second vice-president, taking over from Debbie Alexander who stays on the executive by virtue of being an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) member.

Moekie Grobbelaar and Ilhaam Groenewald are other survivors from the previous board, with Linda Zwane (football), Wendy Gila (roller sport) and George Stainton (climbing) coming in for the first time.

The board that served from 2020 is credited with turning the organisation around, repairing a reputation damaged by mismanagement and corruption to the point that they secured multimillion-rand sponsorships.

Not making it were representatives from the two main Olympic medal sports, Athletics South Africa (ASA) president James Moloi and Swimming South Africa executive member Zikie Molusi.

Qondisa Ngwenya, who was said to have played a key role in helping Sascoc secure sponsors this year, also failed to get re-elected. 

A new voting system was implemented, in accordance with the organisation’s recently adopted constitution, requiring successful candidates to receive 50% plus one of the vote.

Even Hendricks, who was unopposed, had to be elected — although he received an overwhelming 151 votes, with seven abstentions and three against.

For second vice-president, with five candidates at the start, they needed two rounds.

Several rounds of voting were needed to determine the five ordinary board members from the initial 16 candidates, with several nominees, including Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane withdrawing ahead of the final round. 

Two independent directors will have to be appointed to the board, while Khotso Mokoena will be replaced after elections for a new athletes’ commission chair in March next year. 


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