Sport, arts & culture minister Gayton McKenzie says his department is overhauling its funding model as it aims to stamp out “a serious crisis” within poorly managed federations.
He vowed that major restructuring would ultimately see some bodies receiving more and others less.
“A whole new model will be implemented with funding coming on time, but the onus will be on federations to adhere and comply with all relevant rules.”
National federations have been growing anxious about government funding for the financial year that kicked off on April 1 after McKenzie’s department instructed them to hold off on submitting applications. “Please be advised that the new submission date for the 2025/26 applications will be communicated in due course. Kindly hold on to submissions until further notice,” the department said in an email sent on March 18.
Adding to the woes of sports bodies were technical challenges many apparently experienced while trying to navigate the National Lotteries Commission’s online portal before last week’s registration deadline.
Athletics South Africa (ASA), whose athletes have been performing well in the past year or so, wants to send a team of about 80 to the African youth and junior championships in Nigeria in July.
The senior world championships in Tokyo in September is another major cost facing the federation that has to date stuck to its policy of sending every athlete who qualifies.
The government grant also helps with administrative costs. “We rely on that,” ASA president James Moloi said yesterday. “We hope they can try to speed up the payment.”
ASA isn’t the only one in that boat. “Like all sporting federations, and those dedicated to promoting arts and culture in our country, Rowing South Africa is having to cut back and carefully plan out finances because of the delays being experienced,” the body, which enjoys sponsorship from RMB, said in a written response to the Sunday Times.
They have a few overseas competitions coming up this year, including world championships in Shanghai in September.
Paddlesport South Africa (PSA), which has the added stress of hosting the ICF ocean racing world championships in Durban in October, was facing similar challenges, secretary-general Colin Simpkins said.
Without naming any of the poor-performing sports bodies, McKenzie said his department faced “a serious crisis with some of the federations that [had] been allowed to continue over the years”.
Problems included not having an address from where they operated from, the same people sitting on boards “for more than 20 years”, and “terrible infighting”.
McKenzie said they needed to eliminate dysfunction if his Project 350 — which entails qualifying 300 Olympic athletes and 50 Paralympic competitors for Los Angeles 2028 — was to succeed.
Asked when federations might expect to receive funding and whether they could anticipate receiving similar amounts to previous years, the minister said: “Funding will be received after all issues have been fixed.”
“Major restructuring is on the cards. Some will receive more, some will receive less. Everybody is being treated equally. We are following the same principle with arts as with sport. We have already stopped funding the CCiFSA [Cultural & Creative Industries Federation of South Africa], Silapha and Downtown Studios.”
With the Lotto being a key source of funding, some sports officials also spoke about the challenges of registering on the National Lotteries Commission portal. “Registration of new profiles on the NLC’s online portal for the 2024/25 call for applications closed on May 30,” the NLC confirmed.
“Civil society organisations who attempted to register before May 30 and are in possession of a username and password will be able to complete their registration and ultimately submit their applications on the NLC’s online portal.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.