Basketball South Africa on financial and governance matters, as well as preparations for AGM

Meeting report

Chairperson’s opening remarks

The Chairperson said she had received an unofficial notification about the SA Football Association (SAFA) intending to fight the refereeing decisions in the recent SA vs. Ghana football match. She said the Committee would love to have an official report as Parliament was still in session. The Committee needed to know what was happening. She noted the ongoing victories of the SA men’s teams and improvements in the women’s rugby team performance, as well as Banyana Banyana’s wins.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) supported the Chairperson’s comments on the soccer issue and on the rugby team’s victories. He complained about the fact that the Committee had received the forensic report on the National Arts Council from the Department only after it was distributed to the media.

Mr B Madlingozi (EFF) supported this view and said that entities were disrespecting the Committee.

Apologies were received from the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture.

Mr Mhlongo argued that the Committee should not accept the Minister’s apologies and that the Department’s appearance before the Committee should be prioritised as it accounts to the Committee.

Mr Madlingosi seconded these comments.

Ms V Malomane (ANC) suggested that the Minister’s availability for the meeting be checked first.

The Chairperson said the Committee’s programme could not be changed.

Department of Sport, Arts and Culture: Overview of Basketball SA

Ms Sumayya Khan, Deputy Director General: Recreation Development and Sport Promotion, said the briefing would be on Basketball SA’s (BSA) financial and governance matters and on its preparations for the AGM as an indicator of readiness for elections.

She said that the Department’s interactions were guided by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) in providing financial support to sport and recreation bodies. The PFMA requires the entity to implement effective, efficient and transparent financial management and internal control systems. She said that although BSA had made progress in updating and submitting outstanding audited financial statements, it still needed to stabilise its governance systems and establish financial and accounting systems to satisfy the PFMA. The Department would transfer funds directly to BSA only once satisfied that it had complied with the PFMA’s requirements. The Department would continue to assist to ensure BSA’s full recovery.

The Department entered into an agreement with the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to provide R1m to cover expenses to support the basketball turnaround plan, focusing on:

• Re-establishment of provincial structures
• Preparation and hosting of the general meeting
• Preparation for national elections
• Re-affiliation to African and international structures
• Re-establishment of administrative structures
• Re-establishment of programmes and projects

To ensure credible elections, basketball structures had to be revived; the BSA’s constitution had to be amended; election guidelines had to be formulated; and a steering committee had to be established to guide and facilitate the process leading to elections.

Eight provinces were confirmed by BSA as being in good standing for the elections, while Gauteng experienced delays in getting its structure fully established, with only two of the ten members of Gauteng Basketball confirming attendance and credentials of delegates to amend the constitution of Gauteng Basketball. The Confederation therefore decided to postpone the Gauteng elections and a new date is yet to be confirmed. Despite this, the Basketball Special National General Council Meeting resolved to convene a Special Elective Meeting and the national elections were held on 6 November 2021.

Matters of concern for Department were that there were no policy provisions within BSA to ensure representativity on the basis of gender, disability and schools. Secondly, the new executive was all male, except for the Women’s Desk, and this could hamper the development of women’s basketball. Thirdly, BSA had to establish its administrative office, and, lastly, had to attend to the submission of information required for the preparation of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Transformation in Sport.

Basketball SA Presentation

Mr Victor Bergman, BSA’s Treasurer-General, gave a recap of the challenges facing BSA. He said that since 2016, BSA has battled to function normally due to serious maladministration and had battled to implement some of its critical programmes because of challenges in funding allocations from the Department of Sport and Recreation; challenges with the then SASCOC CEO and the National Lotteries Commission Grant; non-co-operation from BSA’s previous auditor; challenges with the Basketball National League; corruption; office staff challenges; a lack of cooperation from certain provinces over EPG compliance; and challenges in league structuring and women’s basketball development.

He then spoke to the current state of membership and to the audited financial statements, saying that the statements for 2016 to 2020 were completed and circulated. He said that the forensic auditors had advised that a criminal case with the Commercial Crime Unit be opened, which was done. The fraud issues led to reportable irregularities of an estimated amount of R622 000.

He then spoke to achievements since SASCOC and the Department’s interventions and to a report on the elections. He said various commissions had been established since the elections and only the Medical Commission was not yet in place. He said there had been extensive consultation before a new constitution was adopted in June, one which was in alignment with SASCOC and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). He said BSA was aware of its shortcomings in terms of school sports and gender representativity, and would work towards addressing these challenges.

Discussion

Mr Mhlongo asked what the website costs were. What were the issues regarding the Gauteng structure? Did the Department advise BSA on amendments on issues of gender and alignment and when would these issues be completed? When last did BSA receive money from the lottery and how much money was received? What were the alignment issues regarding the constitution at a local level? When would the school sports representativity issue be finalised? Was there a finance policy? What was the status of the financial irregularity case? Were the conflict of interest and the stipend and salary issues addressed? How far along were the plans to address school sport, especially in rural areas?

Mr Madlingozi said he wished BSA could go to schools in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu. He asked what the Department thought of the corporate gifts of Ms Mbali Hlope, Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation.

Ms V Van Dyk (DA) asked for an update on the safeguarding policies to address sexual abuse and harassment in the sport, given the murder of Sibusiso Dakusi by his basketball coach. She expressed concern about the lack of women’s representation and asked how BSA would address this.

Mr D Joseph (DA) asked about the R1m given to BSA via SASCOC. Was all the money spent and would they get more money? How did transformation, relating to gender and disability, feature in the AGMs of the provinces?

Ms Malomane asked which provinces had not cooperated regarding EPG compliance. Had BSA set time frames for the establishment of a Medical Commission and for getting office space? What were the challenges within Gauteng preventing them from establishing a structure? Which province did not attend the elective conference and what were the reasons for not attending?

Mr C Sibisi (NFP) asked the Department about school sport, as nothing was being done to assist school sports. Nothing would be achieved if educators and school sports were ignored as school children go on to become professional athletes. His biggest concern was the issue between Athletics South Africa (ASA) and school sports. There was always confusion about who runs athletics. It was difficult for federations to develop sport in schools as parents see educators as the ones who must develop their children at school.

Ms M Khawula (EFF) spoke in Zulu

Mr M Zondi (ANC) said that in many countries youth development in sports was focused on at schools and the Department should do the same. When was the BSA, in its development plans, anticipating having a national competitive league for women?

The Chairperson noted that the majority of the present board were also members of the previous board. She said that there had been complaints about consultations, nominations and processes. The board needed to address these complaints as well as the issues of gender, disabilities and EPG report compliance. She asked about the MOU between the Department and the DBE as this issue had not been addressed for a long time now.

Responses

Mr Bergman said that there were only three old members on the current NEC; six new members were new.

On the complaints about consultations, nominations and processes, he said a rigorous process was followed, and this was not done by BSA alone. Proper constitutional processes and consultations occurred.

He said club championships were held this year and those pictures would be posted on the website.

He said that two or three attempts had been made to have the Gauteng elections. The response from districts within the province was not the response that BSA was expecting. The new board would send a delegation to fix this situation and it was expected that by early next year Gauteng elections would have been held.

BSA last received Lotto money in 2015.

BSA was working closely with the leadership of school sports, but the issues were complicated. The position of school sports needed to be strengthened within BSA’s policies and needed to be put on paper.

The irregular expenditure case was now with the SIU. The last contact he had with investigators was when he was approached for information in March.

He agreed that there was a challenge in terms of competitions in the Western Cape and some other provinces, but the Cape Town Tigers club had won the Basketball Africa League zonal competition and it was based in Gugulethu.

On safeguarding policies, he said the issue was noted and there would be a strong emphasis placed on it.

On the lack of women’s representativity, he said a woman was co-opted onto the board and the board would ensure that the vacant second vice-president position be filled by a woman or a person with a disability.

BSA could not do anything regarding the leagues as it needed to concentrate on getting its structures in place as provincial structures needed to be in place before one could have a national league. The club championships were held this year, but BSA was desperate for the women’s club championships to be held as well.

He said sport in rural areas was a challenge. Basketball had a better chance of accessing rural areas as basketball equipment was not so expensive.

On the EPG issue, he said that with structures in place it was now easier for people to account for the provision of the required data for the EPG report. Historically, around 30% of the provinces struggled to provide data for the EPG reports as they did not understand what data to submit and where to find the data. BSA would appoint someone with the necessary knowledge to assist these provinces to collect the data.

Mr Thando Mboxwana, Director, DASC, said that in terms of the three spheres of government there should be buy-in for all codes, not only football. BSA was expecting support from municipalities in their area for basketball facilities.

Mr Sanele Mthiyane, BSA’s President, said that there were a lot of competitions and most administrators came through the pathway of school sport. All clubs must support the development of youth at schools, but budgets were a constraint. BSA’s shortcomings, such as women’s representativity and women’s basketball, as well as the data for the EPG report, would be worked on.

Mr Nathan Coetzee, BSA: Head of Technical Commission, said one of BSA’s strong goals was skills training and development so that coaches would have accreditation which would include background checks to ensure the safety of the youth.

Mr Vusumuzi Mkhize, DG, DASC, wanted to clarify the working relationship between the Department and BSA. The focuses of the MOU include school sport as a core area, not an added responsibility. School sport development and club development were taking place. The assumption that government was not involved in school sport was wrong.

Mr Sibisi interjected and said that currently there was a problem between school athletics and ASA. Who was responsible for running athletics the following year? Was it ASA or the schools? Who should the Department fund, ASA or school athletics? Similarly, when it came to school football, was it SAFA or schools than ran school football? There was confusion.

Mr Mkhize said he had engaged with the DG of the DBE on this matter of sports federations and what was happening with athletics in schools and similarly with SAFA.

Ms Khan said school sport was a priority for the Department. 40% of the conditional grant went to school sports and this sum of money included money for district, provincial and national competitions. Each province had to allocate funding for training, for the purchase of equipment and kit, for school sport coordinators and for school sport structures from conditional grant funds. A portion of the transfers made to federations was ringfenced for school sports. The Department deals with the federations because they are recognised sports bodies affiliated to world sporting bodies. School sports structures that work on their own would not be recognised. The federation had to recognise them and therefore funding went to the federations. Federations were the bodies that recognised any records that were set and were the bodies that took responsibility.

There had been many interactions with athletics on the school sports structure. In 2019 athletics took the decision to combine their junior athletics with the school sports activities. But the school sports structures decided to do their own parallel activities. There were engagements on the matter but the advent of COVID led to the cancellation of all activities. Engagements were taking place for the forthcoming year’s activities. There were 16 priority school sports codes. On governance structures, she said there was an MOU with the DBE and there was a joint national task team to plan national tournaments for school sports. The MOU being developed to cover arts, culture and sports was close to finalisation as the previous two departments comprising the current Department had two MOUs relating to schools, one for arts and culture, and one for sports. She said it was important to take into account that physical education belonged to the DBE.

The R1 million was spent on the BSA turnaround process. It was completed with the BSA elections in November and SASCOC would do an audited financial statement, after which the Department could report to the Committee on the expenditure of that monies.

The Chairperson at this point proposed that the Committee continue with BSA and defer the Department’s presentation to Friday.

Mr Mhlongo supported the Chairperson’s proposal and asked that the Department prepare a report back on the forensic report.

Ms Malomane seconded the proposal.

Mr Mkhize said they would be able to come on Friday.

Mr Simphiwe Mncube, Director: Facilities, DASC, said that the Department would work with BSA to orientate the new executive on procedures and, once a business plan was submitted, the Department would provide technical and financial support. The Department would work with BSA to ensure that the issue of representativity was addressed. The Department has also worked with BSA on developing their policies to address the deficiencies outlined in the forensic report. The new executive needed to ratify these new policies which would assist them in going about their business.

He said that 105 basketball courts or multisport courts had been developed through MIG grants or through the sports trust.

Mr Mkhize said he visited new facilities completed in deep rural areas near Eshowe. The 105 facilities were in under-resourced areas. The Department was working with municipalities in providing these facilities and the provision of equipment. The MOU with the DBE was at minister-to-minister level.

On the issue of athletics, he said that one of the key problems was that the support of the teacher unions was needed so that there were consultations and engagements in this regard. He said that children who could not do sport at school because of transport issues could do it through clubs where they resided.

Mr Madlingozi asked what the Department’s comment was on the Gauteng MEC Hlophe’s gifts [in a written reply to a parliamentary question in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, the MEC spent R105 000 on corporate gifts in the 2020/21 financial year]

Mr Mhlongo wanted the Department to conduct oversight on BSA and what is happening in the sporting code. He wanted evidence from the Department on letters that they wrote to different sporting codes regarding issues of outstanding documents that were preventing the funding of these codes.

Mr Mkhize said they had come to the meeting as the national sphere of government and would not comment based on jurisdictional grounds. If necessary, the Member could approach the MEC’s office.

The Chairperson said the Department should respond in writing on the issue of the sample letters requested by Mr Mhlongo.

The meeting was adjourned.