Kagiso Moletsane is the general manager of Athletics Free State. It is alleged that he was appointed into this position irregularly by Steven Swarts. Steven Swarts is a convicted rapist. It is alleged that Moletsane has returned the favour by protecting his rapist friend from sanctions and providing him with coaching opportunities in the province. It doesn’t get much sicker and more sordid than this.
Oh, and Moletsane also cheated to get to the start line of this year’s Two Oceans ultra marathon.
Qualification Cheating
Let’s handle the easy and straightforward matter of qualification cheating at this year’s Two Oceans ultra marathon first.
You need to run a marathon in under 5 hours within the defined qualification period to validate your Two Oceans entry. Moletsane was unable to do so. The best he could manage was a 5h13 at the Mimosa Mall Marathon in Bloemfontein on 28 February 2026. However he claimed to have run a 4h29 at this year’s Mimosa Mall Marathon to validate his Two Oceans entry.
Moletsane runs for Centre City Titaniums AC so I got hold of the club and asked how his Two Oceans entry was validated. The prompt reply confirmed that Moletsane was a member of the club but they said that Moletsane’s name was not on the list of entrants provided by Two Oceans for validation. Therefore, Titaniums never approved Moletsane’s entry. This is backed up by a social media post before the event wishing all the Titaniums runners well ahead of Two Oceans weekend. Moletsane’s name is missing from the list.
The club said that they were as surprised as anyone to see the AFS General Manager lining up at the start. When questioned, Moletsane said that was given special dispensation to use his 2025 Mimosa Mall Marathon time of 4h30 by Two Oceans. Any special entry dispensations come to the Race Advisory Committee for discussion and approval. I am on that committee and can confirm that Moletsane’s name and time were never discussed.
After sending Moletsane right of reply questions, I received a response, “Good day, I am in a meeting I’ll get back to you.” Whether this was indeed the case or if he was just buying some time to think up an excuse is unknown but a couple of hours later I received the convoluted explanation, “I enquired at the expo and the lady who assisted me, gave me 2 results from the same Mimosa. That’s how I enrolled. On the issue of Mr Swarts I prefer not to comment.”
We’ll cover the Mr Swarts connection later in this article but all attempts I have made to get clarifications on the above ‘explanation’ remain read but unanswered.
The next bit is conjecture but I would assume that Moletsane went to the info desk at the expo and with sleight of hand or subtle subterfuge, illegally presented his 2025 Mimosa Mall results to whoever helped him and managed to get his entry validated.
As the General Manager of AFS, with a known penchant for suspending his own athletes, he would have known that this was wrong and that he had not legally qualified. Yet, he grabbed his goodie bag and ran anyway. It seems a common characteristic amongst the administrative elite that they think that the rules do not apply to them.
Whilst his club mates might have been surprised to see Moletsane at the start line, no one was surprised that he was not able to finish. Moletsane made it to the 20km mark and called it a day before Chapman’s Peak came into view.
I can confirm that Moletsane’s apparent qualification cheating has been formally referred to the Two Oceans disciplinary subcommittee where he faces a two-year ban from the event.
Irregular Appointment
There have been well founded claims that Moletsane’s appointment was irregular and did not follow due process. A letter sent by nine AFS athletes representing their running clubs to the AFS executive, Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the Free State Sports Confederation (FSSC) calling for the removal of the entire AFS board included several explosive claims including:
“Unprocedural permanent appointment of General Manager – non-transparency in the appointment of the General Manager. The Board appointed the Acting General Manager permanently without following proper Recruitment processes of advertising and conducting interviews. Clubs only became aware by seeing the change in designation on communiques from the AFS Office. The Clubs are really unhappy and dissatisfied about this sudden appointment which we have no idea as to how it happened.”
According to my sources, Moletsane’s appointment was done at the behest of the rapist Steven Swarts (the then president of AFS) and his wife Odessa (then AFS Track and Field Chairperson and now acting AFS president). Here’s a direct quote, “His appointment was done by Swarts and his wife without board approval.”
Steven Swarts – Convicted Rapist
Swarts was convicted of rape on 5 March 2020 after he pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 21-year-old athlete in his care under the pretences of giving her a deep tissue sports massage. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, the entirety of which was suspended dependent on his not repeating the offense.
Swarts was the deputy president of AFS at the time. According to sources, the victim was referred to Swarts’ coaching services by his wife Odessa. Swarts’ rape victim was quoted in Rapport about the impact of the incident, “I never practiced athletics again after it happened. I sold my spikes, sold my blocks, got rid of everything. To this day, I don’t even exercise or gym anymore. I don’t do sports at all anymore. I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
There are lifetime impacts to the victims of rape and yet Swarts is still actively involved in coaching and was recently included as one of the facilitators of an official AFS coaching course held on 22 June 2026.
And whose signature is at the bottom of the official notice confirming that a convicted rapist is officially endorsed by AFS as a coach and facilitator? You guessed it, your man Moletsane.
A Rapist’s Best Friend
After apparently being appointed irregularly by Swarts and Swarts, Moletsane has been a loyal lap dog. Steven Swarts managed to hide his rape conviction despite the allegations being public knowledge. At the time, the smooth-talking Swarts explained the situation away saying that, “It was an extortion scheme against him and that he settled out-of-court.” Swarts claimed that he was forced into “giving the family over R1 Million rand of hush money” as part of the extortion and denied that he was ever convicted or given a sentence by the court.
Sadly, in South Africa being a rapist doesn’t destroy your reputation or your career and Swarts had no problem elevating his AFS position from deputy to president at the AGM in late 2023.
In the middle of 2024, Swarts’ lie was exposed when court documentation emerged proving that not only had he been found guilty of rape and added to the National Register of Sex Offenders but he had also pled guilty in the trial. Essentially he agreed he committed rape, the court agreed that he committed rape but his cronies in the AFS executive didn’t think that was a problem.
A group of nine AFS athletes (the AFS9), representing their respective clubs, filed a motion of no confidence in Swarts’ leadership to AFS and sent a letter of concern to Athletics South Africa (ASA). In any normal functioning society or organisation, the revelations that the head of your organisation is a convicted rapist still serving a suspended sentence would result in immediate and drastic action. No one in sports administration and coaching should survive the revelation that they’ve raped a vulnerable young athlete under their care.
But that’s not how things work in the wonderful world of South African athletics. The action was indeed quick and drastic but it was to suspend the AFS9 for ‘bringing the organisation into disrepute’. You read that right; the rapist was left to roam free and the athletes who objected to being subjected to a rapist’s rule were punished. The henchman enforcing the suspension was of course none other than our qualification cheat Kagiso Moletsane.
The catch all charge for silencing dissenting voices in athletics is ‘bringing the organisation into disrepute’. What exactly was the ‘disrepute’ caused by the AFS9? They had the temerity to send a letter of concern to ASA. They needn’t have bothered, ASA initially remained completely apathetic to having a rapist as the president of one of their provincial federations and, when pushed, threw their support behind the AFS board and its rapist leader. The entire repugnant saga and detailed correspondence is documented within this article: Convicted Rapist Runs Athletics Free State (ASA backs rapist; Athletes suspended for raising concerns)
An Indefinite Suspension
After a media furore, for which the author claims some responsibility, and complaints to World Athletics (WA) about ASA and AFS ignoring safeguarding rules and protocols, Swarts was finally suspended by ASA on 8 March 2025 – nine months after they received proof of Swarts’ rape conviction and the formal letter of complaint from the AFS9.
Disciplinary action against a convicted rapist who rose to power whilst hiding the fact should be a quick process. It should be a formality; There’s really not much to debate; There is no room for conjecture here: Steven Swarts raped a young athlete he was coaching, pled guilty to the crime and was convicted in a court of law. Case closed.
Nothing moves slower than calls for accountability when the guilty are entrenched within the administrative elite. We’re well over 500 days after the initial suspension and there has been no movement. Swarts remains suspended, his coaching services are ‘open for business’ and his credibility is fully endorsed by AFS (now under the acting presidency of his wife Odessa and protection of general manager Moletsane).
ASA Impotency
I recently put the leaked “ACTING CEO’S PROGRESS REPORT TO ASA GENERAL COUNCIL” online. The document was authored by acting ASA CEO and confirmed fraudster Terrence Magogodela (he used ASA letterheads to steal Lotto money meant for athletics development with no repercussions). The 18 June 2026 document included an update on the Swarts matter:
“Council members will recall that ASA suspended Mr Swart after complaints were received from a faction of the membership of Free State Athletics that he was ineligible to be president on account of his erstwhile conviction. ASA duly suspended him and summoned him to appear before a disciplinary enquiry, which enquiry had to be suspended after Mr Swart approached the High Court to interdict the proceedings contending that he had already been subjected to a disciplinary enquiry by his province. Various affidavits were filed by members of Free State supporting his contention that he has already been disciplined with the result that ASA, referred the matter to World Athletics as they have shown interest on the matter especially with the safeguarding policy of World Athletics.”
Apart from taking exception to the euphemistic “erstwhile conviction” – let’s call a rapist a rapist Terrence – the above paragraph raises some serious questions about ASA’s ability to perform basic functions like getting rid of rapists within its ranks.
If ASA has taken any formal steps towards any disciplinary action or investigation into Swarts, this has not come to light. ASA are wholly inept and impotent. They could not organise a piss-up in a Vosloorus shebeen with the ASA credit card.
It appears that Swarts was able to exploit a technical legal loophole saying that he had already been ‘disciplined’ by AFS and therefore could not be subjected to a second disciplinary enquiry by ASA.
The disciplinary findings from the AFS hearing have not been made public so we can only guess what slap on the wrist Swarts received. With his wife and Moletsane pulling all the strings at AFS and Swarts recently being reindorsed as an officially sanctioned AFS coach and facilitator, the AFS board clearly sees nothing wrong with rape.
The interim interdict for case 3713/2025 is provided below. I am trying to get the full court documentation including “Various affidavits were filed by members of Free State supporting his contention that he has already been disciplined”. I can make my guesses but firmly believe that the public deserves to know which AFS members are happy to defend and support convicted rapists having continued access to vulnerable individuals.
NOTE: The one remaining hope in this case is that World Athletics insist on a sanction. You can report this and any other safeguarding violations to World Athletics here (athletics federation presidents stalking and attacking race directors outside their homes would also be a safeguarding violation): https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/aiu-integrity-line
Safeguarding? What Safeguarding?
Whilst writing this article, Get your coaching accreditation from a convicted rapist (brought to you by Athletics Free State), I contacted Athletics Free State, acting ASA President John Mathane and all six members of ASA’s Safeguarding subcommittee raising concerns about having a convicted rapist (officially still on an ASA suspension) facilitating an officially sanctioned AFS coaching clinic and asked for comment.
The continued actions (or inaction) from the AFS executive indicate that that are all good with convicted rapists in their ranks, John Mathane is far too busy agitating the Comrades Marathon Association and fighting with the Minister of Sport on social media to have time for a trivial matter like rapists coaching his athletes but surely the actual ASA Safeguarding Committee would be interested. Is a case like this not their very reason for being?
Apparently not. Only one of the six members of the Safeguarding Committee acknowledged my email. Thabiso Sekete said, “I will look into this and get back to you.” Of course he never did get back to me and my follow-up emails have been ignored.
Should you take exception to ASA’s Safeguarding Committee not performing their duties, their details are publicly available here: https://athleticssa.org.za/ContactUs under the “ASA Committees” section at the bottom with the heading “Safe Gaurding” (yes that is how it is spelt on the ASA web site).
I have also copied the table below for ease of reference.
| NAME | POSITION | MOBILE | |
| Kesa MOLOTSANE | ASA Board Member | 079 175 0023 | MolotsaneKC@ufs.ac.za |
| Santi BRITZ | Santi.britz@gmail.com | ||
| Adv. Violet KHUMALO | 084 740 1240 | khumaloviolet11@gmail.com | |
| Sibongile NXUMALO | 082 337 7685 | nganenxumalo@gmail.com | |
| Sibongile TSHIKOVHI | 076 263 9661 | sibongilenxumalo@yahoo.com | |
| Thabiso SEKETE | 073 236 7574/082 302 3206 | thabisot1000@gmail.com |
How Deep is the Rot?
South African athletics administration is in a bad way. The ASA president has been suspended for almost a year for apparent blatant misuse of the ASA credit card, the acting CEO is a confirmed fraudster and the deputy president / acting president is completely out of his depth and bumbling from one controversy to the next.
Within the provincial bodies you have the KZNA president ‘stepping aside’ after harassing, stalking and then getting into a street fight outside the home of a race director. Moletsane is just one of many officials from various provincial federations who were caught cheating at this year’s Two Oceans (more to follow on this). I’ve been given credible leads of improprieties by the president of another large provincial federation (more to follow on this as well).
Other federations fixate on the policing recreational runners and implementing bizarre and incorrect rule interpretations to the benefit of no one but their own egos. Examples include Border victimising Mkhululi Jack for running with a speaker on his back, AGW disqualifying race winner Onnalenna Khonkhobe for running with a temporary license in club kit and only backtracking when the lawyers got involved and Limpopo disqualifying runners at the end of an ultra for wearing a Comrades cap.
The idiots are in charge. The lunatics are running the asylum. There is a big jug of stupid juice and they are all drinking from the same cup.
The rot is deep. The corrupt are entrenched and the crooks, thugs and rapists look after each other. The capable have been silenced and sidelined. Is this situation salvageable? I don’t think so. The system needs to be rebooted. We need to start again. Can someone hit the CTRL + ALT + DELETE buttons already?
Disclaimer: This article is written in my personal capacity and not as a board member of the Two Oceans Marathon NPC. The views do not necessarily reflect those of the Two Oceans Marathon NPC or its board members.
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In a country like SA what do you expect?
We have a President who is on a roll to break more laws than his predecessor .We live in a country where “citizens” aspire to break rules and laws and sing Me Myself I … I am almost sick to my stomach reading these stories.. Anyone heard the KZNA response to CMA and Mark Leathers.. grunt here grunt there… nothing so much as a verbal response – maybe we want our money.
I only wish more sectors of our societies’ governance institutions had a Running Mann who has the balls to dig into the rot like you Stuart (take a bow). Were it so there is apparently no shortage of whistleblowers who will come to the fore with insights and evidence of the extensive corruption and collusion to cover this up.
Very sad, but kudos to you bro!
Well done for reporting and sticking to the facts.
This os EXACTLY the same modus operandi as Swimming South Africa (SSA)
but sadly they continue to operate with impunity (and having secret meetings with Sports Minister in Franschhoek @10am on 14th July). They seem to have tacit support from Gayton even when he tells the press “he is coming for SSA like a storm…”).
Keep up the work, the community is stronger than these corrupted cretins.
I wish I can comment on the state of affairs currently in the Athletics fraternity of the Free State. If I do, I will most certainly be suspended.
We are having our Annual General Meeting on the 19th of September 2026, where a few motions will be tabled for discussion
Whatever will resolve from this meeting will determine the future of Athletics in the Free State as well as ASA