Athletics Free State Archives

24th June 202625th June 2026

Get your coaching accreditation from a convicted rapist (brought to you by Athletics Free State)

Steven Swarts was convicted of raping one of his female athletes while giving her a “deep tissue massage”. The incident occurred in 2018 and the female athlete was 21 at the time.

At his trial Swarts pled guilty to rape and sexual assault. He signed his conviction papers on 5 March 2020 but was able to escape jail time with the Bloemfontein Court sentencing him, “In terms of section 276 (1) (b) of act 51 of 1977 as amended, the accused is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, which imprisonment is suspended for a period of 5 years on condition that the accused is not during the time of suspension convicted of contravention of section 3 of the Criminal Law Amendment act 32 of 2007 (sexual offences and related matters).”

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.