Swimming South Africa pours cold water on new national water polo body

Swimming South Africa (SSA) has poured cold water on the newly launched body wanting to run water polo in the country, with the national federation saying it alone was mandated to run all aquatics disciplines in the country.

In a press release on Thursday, SSA raised elements that were mentioned by South African Water Polo (SAWP), like improving transparency, accountability, enforcing stricter financial controls, establishing “clear reporting structures, introducing independent audits “to ensure compliance with governance standards” and kicking off a national campaign to promote diversity and inclusion.

While SAWP is chasing a system similar to Australia where the individual aquatic disciplines operate independently, SSA is having none of that, citing the constitutions of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and World Aquatics.

“[Sascoc] explicitly supports the principle of recognising only one national federation per sport,” SSA said in a statement on Thursday.

It quoted a clause saying Sascoc would recognise only one national federation as a member “governing a sport of one or more related disciplines of the sport”.

“According to the World Aquatics constitution only one national body per country is recognised as a member.”

SSA said a recent workshop had come up with a way forward for water polo, which included integrating the school sports environment with “a more robust club system”.

“This framework is designed to create a strong foundation for elite player development, ensuring South African water polo remains competitive on the international stage,” said SSA, which declined spots for the national men’s and women’s teams at the Paris Olympics last year. 

SSA said its annual audit of provincial affiliates and water polo structures had revealed “critical weaknesses”, like dysfunctional provincial structures, school sport compliance issues and financial irregularities.

“Numerous financial discrepancies were uncovered, with many provincial structures unable to provide audited financial statements. A lack of financial transparency has raised governance concerns with persistent complains from parents regarding financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest.”

SSA said previous efforts to appoint an individual to address these problems had failed, and as a result they would appoint a dedicated task team “to conduct a comprehensive investigation and implement necessary corrective measures”.

“SSA remains committed to fostering a thriving water polo landscape that aligns with international standards, promotes inclusivity and upholds the highest levels of governance and integrity.”