National federations have formed a strategic task team to engage sport minister Gayton McKenzie and his department after heavy funding cuts, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) said on Tuesday.
Sports have been hit by budget cuts totalling about R40m this year which have seen cuts in government funding of up to 60% for codes such as athletics and swimming, while Sascoc and a few others received nothing.
Sascoc described the cuts as an “unfolding financial crisis that will derail the upward performance trajectory of all the [South African] teams and individual athletes”.
It and the national federations held an emergency meeting last week.
Sascoc president Barry Hendricks said his organisation had started talks with the department of sport, arts and culture.
“After the engagements Sascoc brought together national federations to gather insights, assess implications of the funding cuts and determine a strategic united response,” he said.
The strategic team “will lead engagements with [McKenzie] and key stakeholders and advocate for the necessary support to protect the interests of athletes, federations and the broader South African sporting community”.
“Sascoc remains committed to finding practical solutions to ensure the sport sector is not destabilised by the cuts.”
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