David, here is the mail – I have not fully check all the spelling and grammar etc. Being a Dyslexic / Hyperactive/ Lazy writer, I know this can be cleaned up and I don’t mind if you do. So feel free to edit/ adjust in any way that you think will make it work.
Hi David, thank you for the opportunity to respond to your article in person.
The SSA Constitution “forbids that we as members speak to the press without authorisation of SSA…” While I understand this clause and the consequences thereof, unfortunately this clause is being used to muzzle members from exposing the many rotten issues within SSA and especially SSA’s (mis)management of SA Water Polo.
Firstly, who is Swim South Africa (SSA) and who do they represent?
- SSA are the mother/ umbrella body that oversees the various disciplines (Water Polo/ Diving/ Artistic Swimming/ Long Distance Swimming and Swimming). But you can see from their name “Swimming South Africa” where their priory has always been. This has been the complaint of all disciplines for many years.
- The other aquatic disciplines all sit in separate Technical Committees within each Aquatic Board (either District, Province or Nationally).
- This is meant to allow these Disciplines to “administer themselves”. However, in reality, this does not happen (specifically in Water Polo). The TC’s need to get the Aquatic boards stamp of approval for all decisions they make, and Nationally the SSA Executive and the SSA CEO can (and do) overturn decisions by the TC. In fact, the TC has been a lame duck for the last 20 years because of this very issue, with most ethical members resigning so as not to be part of a captured body.
- The other aquatic disciplines DO NOT sit on the boards of the Aquatics bodies; therefore, they have no say in the running of the Board and most importantly.
- The TC’s are APPOINTED by the National, Provincial or District Boards – there is NO VOTE! So, Water Polo cannot nominate and vote on the people who will serve the Water Polo community
- Importantly – there is no transparency on the Appointments made by the various Aquatic Boards – No list of nominations, no confirmation of who nominated whom, no explanation by the Aquatic Boards as to why they appoint A and not B, no metrics on how the evaluation process is run, so in short NO Accountability and therefor a simple exercise to capture the sport.
My case with SSA (Swimming South Africa)
History
In Aug of 2019, the Chair of SSA, Alan Fritz set up an indaba in JHB called, “Elephant in the Room”. The reasoning was for Alan propose his idea/ vision for SA Water Polo going forwards. (See attachment). During that indaba it was put forward to Water Polo that “we” as water polo should look for a solution to making our sport more professional etc. After that indaba we (attendees) were asked to work towards a solution and present this to Alan who would get the SSA Executive to support.
After many months of no movement from Alan Fritz, I took it upon myself as the Chair of Cape Town and WC Water Polo to set up online meetings with other people involved in Water Polo and Swimming (sorry cannot name them as they have been threatened with expulsion from the Federation). We met regularly and as per Alan Fritz’s Indaba instructions, we looked at the best model for SA Water Polo to follow.
After speaking to various bodies, we in Water Polo made the following conclusions:
- Importantly, SSA and SA Water Polo are all member run bodies, beholden to serve their members best interests. If the members at any time mandate the administrators to make changes, then the Administrators / Leaders must follow the members wishes (i.e. as per most normal democracies worldwide)
- The SSA Constitution allows for members to legally make changes if procedure is followed (see constitution)
- That using the current model where Technical Committees are appointed meant that we would always be beholden to the SSA Executive, with no control over who represents us (No Vote = No Control = No Recourse = No Hope)
- As long as we had no control, we would never get any of the good people in the game to help run the sport, as they were always being over-ridden by the CEO and the SSA Executive.
- Therefore why not follow best practice and do what other countries have done and legally separate yourself from Swimming, to give you control over your own affairs. i.e. follow the successful model of USA/ AUS/ NZ and many European countries too. (NOTE: FINA, the World Governing Body allow this separation if done legally)
- To do this we would need (like any change to any constitution), to get a survey completed by our members to confirm that this would get their approval
- We did this and got over 600 responses from mainly the top club/ provincial and national players.
- This is where #WaterPolo4Change came about
- In the end we decided to follow SA Cricket and set up
- A non-profit PTY Ltd
- Have more than 50% independent Board Members
- We would retain our connection to SSA via the board seat
- We would retain our connection to FINA and SASCOC via SSA for now but in time register directly with these bodies
So as can be seen, this is NOT a “break away organisation” or some Coup where we burn the SSA Exec at the stake. This is a legal process that is allowed by the Constitutions of SSA, SASCOC, FINA and ultimately South Africa. We mean no ill to SSA and the Swimming fraternity, however anyone can see that the current model is not working for the Water Polo community AND, AND the community has voted for us to follow this path. So simply put, in a voluntary organisation made up of paying members, those members have mandated us to pursue this course to fix their sport (organisation) for them and asked us to do so legally.
Now some context regarding my case and for that you need to see the time as this was not shown in the “hearing” that SSA conducted.
- 3rd Feb of 2022 – I sent an “offending email” to the Water Polo people telling them that we had a solution and we would set up a day to meet with all the provincial bodies before our upcoming Nationals in East London in March.
- 13th Feb 2022 – Alan Fritz sends “Notice of intention to Suspend” to me and all others copied on my 3rd Feb mail. He demanded responses by me within 24 hours or he would suspend me.
- 14th / 17th Feb and 3rd March – THREE Responses sent to Alan Fritz with ZERO responses from him
- 16th March – Notice of Suspension from CEO Sean Adriaanse. This mail was sent at 22.12pm the night before we travelled to SA Nationals, knowing full well I was the Manager for my team. Petty politicking / Bulling at its worst!
- Legal advisor sends notice to SSA showing them that their Suspension is not legal and demand they retract. (you cannot suspend someone for requesting a change to the LEGALLY constitution of the constitution allows members to LEGALLY make changes…)
- 18th March – 17th August – Twelve (12) more bi-weekly mails sent to Alan Fritz, Sean Adriaanse, the SSA Executive, Provincial Presidents and District Presidents. All ignored and only 2 responses from WCA President, Llewellyn Coetzee late in Aug promising to give feedback – but surprisingly he never did.
- During Sept and August, I then contacted SASCOC asking for help with this matter. They tried Mbeki’s “Quiet Diplomacy” with SSA and…
- Bolt Out of the Blue – 22nd Sept – get email “reminder to appear at Disciplinary Hearing” – email arrives at 9.32am, meeting is in JHB at 10am, I live and work in Cape Town. Superman would struggle to make that on time.
- No notice sent to my legal advisor (he is also an SSA member who is legally allowed to represent me)
- 1st mail was suspiciously only addressed to me however the reminder is suddenly addressed to the Chair of the DC meeting…
- NOTE – At this point, 7 months after being “Suspended” I still not have reived a charge sheet.
- DC Chair agrees that possibility exists that I did not receive mail, they postpone the “pre-hearing” till 29th Sept online
- Meet online on the 29th Sept – Chair instructs 2 legal councils to have a “pre-hearing” to iron out the processes etc for a hearing. After that meeting my legal council sends a 14 page letter with requests for info on: What is the charge/ Who made the complaint/ where is this recorded/ What are the rules for the hearing etc (see attached). Without this info it is impossible to build a defence as you cannot defend against a blank canvas.
- 11th November – Suddenly we get notice of hearing from the appointed chair of the hearing.
- He gives us 6 days’ notice and asks us to book out 3 full days to have a hearing
- He still has NOT submitted answers to our questions – What is the Charge, What are the Rules etc. etc. etc.
- Sean Adriaanse the SSA CEO’s only response is “ we will deal with it in the hearing”….
- We cannot book witnesses (who to call on what charge…)
- Most importantly:
- My legal advisor cannot attend
- I cannot attend AND, and, and…
- SSA’s Legal Advisor cannot attend
- 17th Nov – One of my legal team sit in on the scheduled 3 day meeting and after 1 hour announces she will leave as there are no others joining. Only the Chair and the SSA CEO are present – as above no-one else could attend.
- However, the Chair then decides to “run the meeting between himself and the CEO” but does not tell anyone.
- Sunday 15th Jan 2023 – We then approach SASCOC’s CEO and their Judicial body formally giving them this full history to show that SSA are not just dragging feet but they are acting completely irresponsibly and irrationally.
- SASCOC is the governing body of all organised sport in SA and SSA must report to them
- We also asked SASCOC to confirm if they were going to take this case and if not, we asked for permission to take this case to the Civil Courts as 10+ months of heal dragging had to stop.
- Miraculously – Monday 16th Jan at around 4pm – Suddenly SSA send out “Disciplinary Hearing – Findings”
- Monday 16th – We immediately put in our appeal and we will now take this to SASCOC Judicial body to show them how badly SSA can run a DC hearing.
To date we still have not:
- Received the Charge Sheet
- Received a copy of the written complaint
- Know who the complaint is
- Have seen confirmation that the SSA Secretary General has received that complaint and when the requested the Exec to deal with this matter
- And the list goes on and on and on….
So David, now see the above in context to what you published and see the blatantly incorrect comments made by the SSA CEO and the Chair of the DC hearing. If we don’t expose this, then like Sarah Harris, we will keep losing people to this bullying behaviour.
Your newspaper is riddled with stories of the whistle blowers being punished while the perpetrators carry on unabated. When will our society stand up and stop this. The sad answer is, NEVER… Not one person on ANY of the District, Provincial or National aquatics boards has stood up and asked honest, ethical questions about this affair, and they have all be copied in on every single mail. Some have contacted me “anonymously” because they are terrified of being kicked out for talking to the person who has shone the light on this mess. All express shock, none do anything more though.