SASCOC has held its annual meeting at its headquarters in Johannesburg ©SASCOC

Sanele Mthiyane, President of Basketball South Africa, was elected as a new Board member at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) Annual General Meeting (AGM) at its headquarters in Johannesburg.

The special election followed the vacancy created by the recent resignation of Alan Fritz.

The other candidates for the vacancy were Marthinus JH Bosse from the South African Wrestling Federation, Cecilia Molokwane from Netball South Africa and Winston Abraham Meyer from Lifesaving South Africa.

The President of SASCOC, Barry Hendricks, told the hybrid meeting - which was attended by 70 National Federations and provincial sports confederations as well as the Minister of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa - that the organisation was growing and its financial status had greatly improved.

"Thank you to our sponsors and partners who continue to help us push our mission forward through their funding," he added.

In his keynote address, Mthethwa acknowledged delays in getting funding out to National Federations.

He said: "We have noted and will attend to the complaints about delays experienced by National Federations in the release of their funding allocations."

The Minister also thanked the delegates for demonstrating sport's role in both nation-building and social cohesion.

"Judging by the packed calendar of events we enjoyed during the year, we can only applaud the huge bounce-back experienced by sport, in the direction of full normality, following the devastating pandemic of the past few years," he said.

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa was an attendee at the SASCOC AGM ©Getty Images
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa was an attendee at the SASCOC AGM ©Getty Images

"Together with SASCOC, we have made it our priority to remove all controversies around issues like the payment of incentives to our medallists.

"We will also continue to call upon the sports bodies to nominate candidates for the various sports awards on offer."

SASCOC chief executive Nozipho Jafta added: "I am very pleased to report that there is an upturn in our finances.

"I can safely say that we are succeeding in rebuilding our stakeholder confidence and the SASCOC brand.

"More corporates are showing interest in partnering and supporting Team SA.

"Good corporate governance and compliance is at the centre of these negotiations.

"It is undeniable that we are emerging after some extremely tough times as an organisation.

"There is an unwavering commitment to invest in our athletes, their well-being and performance as we build towards Paris 2024 and the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

"We remain committed to achieving our goal of delivering a high-performing, transformed Team SA."