ASA Archives - The Running Mann

13th March 202518th March 2025

Update on ASA Deregistration / Paid ASA contactor, Modern Athlete, Heavily Criticised

I chatted to a business law expert about the implication of Athletics South Africa (ASA) being deregistered on 5 February 2025. She told me that, as it stands right now, “Legally they are dead in the water. It’s like someone has blown their head off with a shotgun – they no longer exist.”

The deregistration is a result of ASA not filing their annual returns, required forms or paying company fees for the last 3 years. Any supposed issues with SARS and former directors are totally irrelevant to the deregistration. Essentially the issue is one of negligence and dereliction of duty from ASA’s directors and accountants / auditors.

2nd March 202515th March 2025

ASA Happy to let Rapist Run Loose Amongst Vulnerable Young Athletes (Normalising Rape Culture in South Africa)

Despite being provided with unequivocal proof that the President of Athletics Free State (AFS) is a rapist who is still serving a suspended sentence, Athletics South Africa (ASA) are content to let him run free amongst vulnerable women and children under his ‘care and custodianship’. Court documents confirming the rape conviction were originally presented to ASA in July 2024. After legal pressure, ASA finally met with the AFS Board eight months later on 21 February but have delayed making any decision or taking any action against the rapist until 15 March. However, they did issue a ‘gag order’ against whistleblowers within the AFS athletics structures from ‘talking to the media’. The complete lack of action from the ASA Board is normalising rape culture in South Africa.

Rhetoric around Gender Based Violence (GBV) is everywhere. You can’t escape it. From billboards to t-shirts, from hashtags to celebrities on social media and of course politicians looking concerned and saying all the right things in front of television cameras. Sadly, it is even harder for women and vulnerable persons to escape the actual rapists and sexual predators – especially when they are men in positions of power.

The rapists are no longer lurking in the shadows, they are sitting comfortably in the boardrooms and greedily massaging in the changerooms. Talk is cheap and the politicians and officials entrusted with protecting our women and children are easily bought when the rapist is rich and powerful.

25th February 202515th March 2025

Convicted Rapist Runs Athletics Free State (ASA backs rapist; Athletes suspended for raising concerns)

In July 2024, a group of Free State athletes became aware that Steven Swarts, the President of Athletics Free State (AFS), had recently been convicted of raping a young track and field athlete and was also on the National Register of Sex Offenders. The group of nine athletes, representing their running clubs, filed a motion of no confidence in Swarts’ leadership to AFS and sent a letter of concern to Athletics South Africa (ASA). The AFS9 were summarily suspended by AFS for ‘bringing the organisation into disrepute’ and were completely ignored by ASA.

On 31 January, the AFS9 sent a lawyer’s letter to ASA, upon which they finally acted. A delegation consisting of all the senior ASA officials travelled to Bloemfontein for a meeting with Swarts and the AFS Board on Friday February 21 and then addressed all AFS running clubs the following day. ASA failed to meet directly and engage with the AFS9 to hear their side of the story and instead waited until a meeting with all AFS clubs the following day where they interrogated the AFS9 in an open forum and blamed them for raising issues and “having sour grapes”. At no stage did ASA address the main issue at hand – that a convicted rapist is holding the AFS presidency and is still in close contact with vulnerable young athletes.

Put into even simpler terms, a convicted rapist of a young athlete is being protected by the AFS and ASA Boards to remain in his position and those that have tried to get justice are being victimised.

Swarts is a prominent figure in athletics as he is the stepfather and current coach of Olympic Gold Medallist and 400m World Record holder Wayde van Niekerk. Swarts’ wife also sits on the AFS Board as Track and Field Chairperson.

Steven and Odessa Swarts, the President and Track and Field Chairperson of AFS respectively (photo: Facebook)

28th March 202430th March 2024

The Lunatics are Ruining the Asylum (the fight against idiotic athletics officialdom)

Picture a new runner who has just discovered the joy of running. They’ve gone from being a couch potato to struggling through a 5km parkrun to running a comfortable parkrun every Saturday morning. They are proud of their progress and look forward to a new challenge by entering the Firgrove 15km in Constantia, Cape Town. This is the furthest that they have ever run and, at the start line, they are not even sure that they’ll make it. As they near the finish, dreams of entering a half marathon and maybe even Cape Town Marathon later that year fill their head. They cross the finish line with a broad smile, the pain of sore legs disappears with the exultation of the runner’s high and the endorphins of achievement course through their blood.

Then, all of a sudden, it all comes crashing down when some prick with a badge and an orange vest starts obnoxiously shouting that you are disqualified for violating a rule you knew nothing about. How many social runners that bear the brunt of antisocial refereeing are lost to the sport of road running?

3rd July 201824th July 2018

The Athlete’s Champion: Ann Ashworth Attacks ASA Apathy

On the 10^th of June 2018 Ann Ashworth fulfilled a lifelong dream and won the Comrades Marathon. Two weeks later she became a champion.

Champions have to make sacrifices. Ann knows all about sacrifices – she made plenty before she got to the start line in Pietermaritzburg. Sadly, her latest sacrifice was an easy one to make – turning down the chance to represent her country at the 2018 100k World Championships in Croatia.

To her club mates she is known as the Iron Lady. An advocate by day, but an ultra-runner by morning and evening, this Iron Lady has legs that are wired for long distance running and a mind that is wired for justice.

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