Controversy surrounds ASA Presidential Elections amid candidate withdrawals

IOL News

30-05-2025

IT WOULDN'T be the elections for sports administrators without the bickering and the controversy, would it? Athletics South Africa's (ASA) presidential elections will take place in Johannesburg on Saturday amidst drama that has served to threaten the legitimacy of the event.
As if the mudslinging among the prime candidates was not enough, there have been two federations withdrawing their nominations to the detriment of athletes who were looking for an opportunity to serve at national level.
Gladwin Mzazi and Kesa Moletsane are highly-achieved stars who were nominated for roles at ASA but their provinces Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) and Athletics Free State (AFS) have made the strange decision of withdrawing all their nominees. As such their hopes of serving have been dashed.
Talk in athletics is that the withdrawal decisions are part of a ply to unseat current president James Moloi, who was nominated by the two federations and will thus lose out on those votes.
There is a suggestion that a group pushing for the return of former president Aleck Skhosana, who is the main challenger to Moloi, has connived to get the two provinces withdrawing their nominations.
'The elections are definitely going to happen,' a source within ASA told Independent Media. 'CGA and AFS withdrawing their nominations will not stop the elections or make them illegitimate.
"We are aware that there's a group that wants James Moloi out and they are the ones behind these withdrawals. They started at CGA and then went to the Free State because those provinces nominated Moloi. But he should still get enough votes to retain the presidency.'
It is believed that while there are five nominations for the position, there will be just two men standing come Saturday morning – Moloi and Skhosana likely to be those.
Independent Media were told Friday that Harold Adams had sent a letter to ASA confirming his withdrawal from the presidential race and new Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) president John Mathane is also expected to do the same by the end of the day.
It was not immediately clear whether current ASA vice president Shireen Noble will stay on for the race, but whatever her decision she is generally seen as not having enough support to challenge the two.
It thus leaves Skhosana to try and unseat Moloi. The narrative currently being pushed is that under Moloi ASA has lacked strong leadership hence the hankering for Skhosana's return.
Moloi argues though that those calling for his removal are ignoring the reality of the situation as he feels that the sport has improved in the four years he has been in charge.
'The reality is that we have done very well because not only have we got the sport back on television as we promised before we were elected but you'd have seen the huge strides our athletes have made at international events and we are looking to build on those gains,' the current incumbent said – no doubt referring to the medals won at the Olympics and international events such as the junior and youth championships as well as in the relay championships.
He finds it laughably sad that those against him have gone the route of getting federations withdrawing their nominees withdrawn from the elections.
'It's totally unfair because we are not working for ourselves here. We are working for Athletics South Africa and the athletes must be our priority.
"Let's not demoralize the athletes and rob people who want to serve the sport of the opportunity because withdrawing those nominations is not hurting James Moloi but other athletes who wanted to serve the sport.'
The elections will be held in Kempton Park Saturday.