Semenya saga: management

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http://www.sport24.co.za/Content/OtherSport/262/3e702782071443f68f200d4f41156888/05-10-2009%2006-29/Athletes_must_work_with_ASA

‘Athletes must work with ASA’
2009-10-05 18:29Email | Print

Hendrick Mokganyetsi and Geraldine Pillay during ‘happier’ times. (Gallo Images)

Johannesburg - Hendrick Mokganyetsi, head of the Athletics South Africa (ASA) athletes’ commission, stood firm against a breakaway commission on Monday, confirming his support of embattled ASA president Leonard Chuene.

Mokganyetsi has been accused of disrupting an athletes’ meeting in Pretoria on Saturday organised by fellow former sprinter Geraldine Pillay.

Pillay blamed Mokganyetsi and a group of individuals, some of whom she said were drunk, for causing chaos at the meeting. She added that Chuene and his handling of the Caster Semenya gender fiasco had not been on the agenda of the meeting. It was rather, she said, a platform for athletes to voice their concerns about the sport and the national federation.

But Mokganyetsi said they had been led to believe Chuene would be discussed at the meeting and, when the subject never came up “after two hours”, he and others in attendance stood up and left. An argument ensued later between Mokganyetsi and Pillay, with the latter accusing ASA of mobilising certain individuals to purposely interrupt the meeting.

And on Monday Mokganyetsi again denied that nobody in attendance had been drinking alcohol – adding that the accusation was racially based – and that he had not meant to disrupt proceedings.

“Some media reports have created an impression that I organised a mob of drunks that disrupted a meeting of athletes in Pretoria over the weekend,” Mokganyetsi said in a statement.

“I want to state it categorically that I never did such a thing. The meeting spiralled into chaos when the organisers couldn’t give an agenda for that meeting.

“I did not see any drunken mob, unless we are ‘drunks reeking of alcohol’ merely because we are African athletes. “

Mokganyetsi stood firm in his support for Chuene while calls are made for the ASA boss’ head.

“The reason that has been advanced as rationale for this lie, that I disrupted or caused the disruption of the meeting, is that I am a supporter of ASA president Leonard Chuene,” he said.

“This is mischievous as Mr Chuene remains the president of ASA, of which I am a board member. I find it ludicrous that, as a board member, there would be assertions that I support the president of ASA.

It is a given.”

Pillay said she would put together a breakaway athletes’ commission, but Mokganyetsi said any such group would need to be sanctioned by ASA.

“ASA is the only official federation for athletes in the country,” said Mokganyetsi.

“A group of athletes getting together and adopting motions would still require the involvement of ASA if they are to be acted upon.”

Mokganyetsi, the joint South African record holder in the 400-metre sprint, called on the nation’s athletes to work together with ASA to find solutions to the current problems within the federation.

“Whatever challenges we may be facing as athletes in South Africa, we will need to deal with them within ASA structures,” he said.

“I therefore appeal to all those who are associated with athletics in the country to work within the structures of the federation, for the love of the sport.”

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Provincial bodies call for board to step down

09 October 2009 (14:27)

Leonard Chuene © Gallo Images

Three of Athletics South Africa’s 17 provincial affiliates called for the entire ASA board to step down on Friday.
The Boland, Eastern Province and Western Province provincial athletics associations said in a joint statement that the board, along with ASA senior management, should "take collective responsibility "for the Caster Semenya gender fiasco and “resign with immediate effect.”

The three bodies said they had called upon ASA last week to “explain various matters relating to an incident which occurred at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin”.

But the federation had yet to respond to their collective call, the associations said on Friday, and ASA’s failure to do so “highlights the lack of accountability within South African athletics and the failure of corporate governance on the part of the national federation.”

At the global championships in August, ASA team doctor Harold Adams, also the president of Boland Athletics advised team management to withdraw Semenya from the women’s 800m event in light of results he had received from gender tests done on the athlete in Pretoria earlier that month.

ASA president Leonard Chuene and the team managers chose to ignore Adams’s advice and allowed Semenya to run. On return from Berlin, Chuene and ASA general manager Molatelo Malehopo, who had ordered the tests done on Semenya in Pretoria, repeatedly denied that the tests had been conducted.

In a press conference last month Chuene eventually admitted they had lied, but insisted they had done so to protect Semenya.

On September 24 ASA called a special general meeting in Kempton Park to discuss the actions taken by the federation and it was widely expected that the provincial affiliates would give Chuene a vote of no confidence.

But Chuene’s place at the head of the board was never discussed in the meeting. Afterwards, senior provincial officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sapa they had been “too scared” to stand up against Chuene due to his political connections.

They added that many association presidents had been placed in their positions by Chuene and he had warned them “if I go, you go”.

But the Boland, Western Province and Eastern Province associations have officially called for the entire board to share the blame with Chuene who has taken much of it upon himself - and step down.

“The (ASA) board and senior management have not taken responsibility for the events which have occurred, choosing to rather allow the president of ASA to bear that responsibility,” the affiliates said.

“It needs to be pointed out that the president of ASA is, in terms of its constitution, a non-executive president and that he alone cannot take all the blame.”

The associations also said that ASA had not openly shared other “relevant information” with the affiliates.

“For example,” the statement said, “the 2008 financial statements have never been sent to ASA’s members despite the provisions of the ASA Constitution and the Companies Act.”

The affiliates added it was worrying that ASA board member Hendrick Mokganyetsi had been accused of disrupting an athletes’ meeting in Pretoria last week and that Mokganyetsi had accused meeting organiser Geraldine Pillay of racism after she blamed some of the people with him for showing up drunk.

Chuene has repeatedly accused the IAAF of racism for conducting gender tests on Semenya, which were done a little over a month after ASA had conducted their own tests without informing Semenya beforehand.

“It is disturbing that the issue of race has entered into this matter,” the associations said.

"Race is irrelevant to the current matter, which relates to the failure of corporate governance at Athletics South Africa.

"There is no question that any specific members, or specific groups, of the ASA board or senior management are being called upon for an explanation.

“The entire senior structure is standing together and must take collective responsibility, regardless of race or other affiliation.The quest for a non-racial country and non-racial sport is as relevant now as it was 20 years ago. Any attempt by anyone, from whatever political background, to bring race into this matter must be rejected.”

The three affiliates also called for ASA to “apologise unconditionally” to the SA government, the public, and Semenya.

Remember to go to www.supersport.com on your Mobile phone and keep in touch with the latest scores wherever you are.

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ASA deny withholding prizes

October 09 2009 at 02:47PM

Athletics South Africa (ASA) has denied that it is withholding athletes’ prize money because it is in financial difficulty.

Spokesman Chris Britz was responding on Friday to a claim by the Democratic Alliance that cash due to the winners of last month’s Cape Town Marathon was being held back.

Japie van der Linde, the party’s deputy spokesman on sport, said earlier this week he had been told by a prize winner that ASA had said it would pay out only at the end of the year.

Standard practice, Van der Linde said, was to pay out within one week of the event.
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[b]THIS SPOKESMAN, BRITZ, IS THE SAME GUY WHO ANNOUNCED STRAIGHT-FACED TO THE WORLD THAT A MEETING OF ASA HAD UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTED ITS DODGY PRESIDENT, LEONARD CHUENE.

THEN A WEEK LATER (AFTER CHUENE CONFESSED HE HAD LIED ALL ALONG) IT EMERGED THAT THOSE AT THE MEETING WERE GIVEN NO OPPORTUNITY TO EXPRESS SUPPORT OR OTHERWISE FOR CHUENE AND THE MANNER IN WHICH HE HANDLED THE SEMENYA AFFAIR. - KK[/b]

‘This slap in the face of our athletic champions is a disgrace’
Sponsors Nedbank had allegedly already released the funds to ASA, which meant ASA was holding onto these funds at the expense of the athletes.

“This slap in the face of our athletic champions is a disgrace, and a clear sign that ASA is in desperate need of sponsorship,” he said.

However, Britz said it was not true that ASA was holding back prizes any longer than normal.

“Athletes must allow a reasonable amount of time for prize money to be paid,” he said.

It was standard procedure to withhold payments until doping tests had been completed, which could take a month or more, depending on how busy the laboratories were.

“There is also no truth to the rumour that ASA in financial difficulties,” he said.

Nedbank announced last month that it was pulling the plug on its ASA sponsorship, a year earlier than scheduled.

The announcement followed controversy over ASA’s handling of hermaphrodite athlete Caster Semenya.

The marathon, run on September 27, had a total prize purse of R664,700.

The male open winner, George Mofokeng of the Nedbank Running Club Gauteng North, told Sapa he had not been told there would be any delay in payment. - Sapa

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IAAF plans to develop gender definition

By ROB HARRIS
AP Sports Writer

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) – World track and field’s governing body will start examining next week how to determine gender in an athletics context, an initiative spurred by the case of 800-meter world champion Caster Semenya.

The IAAF’s medical commission, which begins meeting Friday, could take a year to deliver that definition and the judicial commission will also be asked to consider future regulations, general secretary Pierre Weiss said Saturday.

“We are obliged to react. It would have been better if we had been prepared to, but we were not prepared,” Weiss told The Associated Press on Saturday. "We will get a reply in the next 12 months - I don’t expect anything to come out before. …

“We were in Copenhagen (at the International Olympic Committee meetings) and I asked my colleagues from other sports if they had a definition and nobody has one. But nobody (else) has had the problem so far.”

Weiss expects the IOC medical commission to also consider the issue in November in Lausanne.The most common cause of sexual ambiguity is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, an endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands produce abnormally high levels of hormones.

By the time Semenya won the 800 meters at the Berlin world championships in August, questions about the 18-year-old South African’s gender had been raised because of stunning improvements in her times and her muscular build and deep voice.

Before the final, the IAAF announced it had ordered gender tests.

The IAAF has refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports that Semenya has both male and female characteristics. It says it is reviewing test results and will issue a decision in November on whether she will be allowed to compete in women’s events.

“They are being analyzed worldwide by experts,” Weiss said. “We will promote the outcome of this case as soon as it is known.”

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Semenya sparks fresh gender row

By Mike Hurst From: The Daily Telegraph October 12, 2009 12:00AM

WORLD athletics chiefs will this week attempt what no man has achieved in history - determining exactly what makes a woman.

The global scandal over sexually ambiguous world champion Caster Semenya has forced the International Association of Athletics Federations to set down in black and white a working definition of what constitutes a woman, for the purposes of competition.

That definition will take into account the biological, biochemical, anatomical, psychological and probably even sociological characteristics that make up females.

IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said yesterday the IAAF medical commission, which will meet this Friday, will be asked to come up with a definition of a female and the judicial commission will be asked to frame regulations to safeguard women-only competition.

“We will get a reply in the next 12 months - I don’t expect that anything will come out before,” Weiss said.

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Yet the IAAF is scheduled to decide next month whether Semenya, 18, had an unfair advantage over other women when she emerged from obscurity to win the women’s 800m title in Berlin on August 19.

How “unfair advantage” may be assessed when there is no definition of a “normal” woman is part of the complexity of the Semenya saga, which The Daily Telegraph sparked on September 11 with the revelation that gender tests conducted on Semenya revealed the presence of internal testes which produced three times the amount of testosterone of “normal” females.

Weiss said he had asked colleagues from other sports if they had a definition of a woman for the purposes of participation in sport.

“Nobody has one,” he said.

“But nobody (else) has had the problem so far.”

Athletics South Africa’s president Leonard Chuene and some of his fellow managers were told by IAAF medical commission member and South African team doctor Harold Adams not to allow Semenya to run in the women’s world championship following the results of sex tests conducted in Pretoria on August 7.

Chuene denied any such tests had been conducted or that he had been advised by Adams to withdraw Semenya from competition, but admitted late last month he had lied.

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Nullify Caster’s test results, say ANC

October 16 2009 at 02:52PM

The ANC wants the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) to declare null and void the results of athlete Caster Semenya’s gender verification tests, it said on Friday.

The tests, done in South Africa and Berlin, were not conducted in keeping with IAAF’s gender verification policies and rules, spokesman Jackson Mthembu told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

An ANC task team, established earlier this month to support the gold medallist, met with various people involved in the saga.

“We then decided to request a meeting with the IAAF, in which we plan to advise them to declare the test results null and void ,” said Mthembu.
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‘Semenya’s rights have been infringed’
He said the IAAF’s policy required that an athlete or team should raise a challenge or complaint for the tests to be conducted.

“Our investigation revealed that this did not happen. Also, with the test done here (South Africa), the composition of the panel that can examine an athlete was not according to the IAAF regulations,” said Mthembu.

The IAAF requires that a medical evaluation should be conducted by a panel comprising gyneacologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medical specialist as well as an expert on gender and transgender issues.

“This should also be happening in the strictest confidence, but obviously, this has not happened with the Berlin tests. It is only when the athlete agrees that it can be made public. Semenya’s rights have been infringed,” said Mthembu, adding that had Semenya been from a developed country, her testing would not have been handled this way.

The whole issue smacked of politicking, he said.

‘We should all respect and protect this child’
“I don’t think this was just a mistake by the IAAF. The country is being undermined. Had we been a developed country, we would not be here today,” said Mthembu.

The task team recently met with Athletics South Africa (ASA), and the meeting “did not change our stance on the manner the body handled the issue”.

ANC general-secretary Gwede Mantashe told a press briefing last month that the way ASA managed the gender controversy surrounding Semenya was “disgusting”.

"We need to be upright in censuring the officials who handled the matter.

The ANC’s NEC looked into the issue and felt it was disgusting the way it was managed … ASA didn’t handle the matter with the utmost transparency and honesty," said Mantashe.

Mthembu said on Friday that the party wished ASA had done better but could not sanction them. The SA Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee was dealing with the matter, Mthembu said.

However, he said the IAAF must apologise for its poor handling of the issue.

He said: "We will advise them to publicly and unconditionally apologise to Caster, her family and the enter country for violating her rights.

“Gender testing has been done several times before but results were never leaked to the media. We are not even aware of some of the tests they did but with Caster, the so-called results were published by the international and local media because of leaks. We are aggrieved.”

ANC NEC member Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who is also part of the task team, urged everyone to remember that Semenya was a human being, who is emotionally disturbed. “We should all respect and protect this child who has gone through this terrible ordeal,” said Madikizela-Mandela.

The team announced that it was preparing to launch a celebratory programme for athletes Semenya, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the men’s 800m gold medallist, and silver medallist in men’s long jump, Kgotso Mokoena.

“We never got to celebrate their victory because of the poor handling of Caster’s gender testing,” Mthembu said.

The IAAF ordered gender tests on 18-year-old Semenya after she won the 800m World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany in August.

The body had refused to comment on reports that the tests showed she was a hermaphrodite. - Sapa

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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/more-sports/anc-demands-new-caster-sex-tests/story-e6frey6i-1225788063485

ANC demands new Caster sex tests
By Mike Hurst
From: The Daily Telegraph

Mon Oct 19 00:01:00 EST 2009 Mon Oct 19 00:01:00 EST 2009

SOUTH Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is demanding the International Association of Athletics Federations "nullify and void’’ results of sex tests conducted on women’s 800m world champion Caster Semenya.

The political party has made the demand after their own "investigation’’ into the furore surrounding the 18-year-old - who has been revealed to be a hermaphrodite, or intersexual.

The ANC’s investigation found that sex tests carried out on Semenya in Pretoria on August 7 - the existence of which South Africa president Leonard Chuene admitted lying about - were allegedly not conducted in keeping with IAAF policies.

"We (have) decided to request a meeting with the IAAF in which we plan to advise them to declare the tests null and void,’’ ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.

He said the IAAF’s policy required that an athlete or team should raise a challenge or complaint for tests to be conducted and there was no complaint.

However, several of Semenya’s 800m rivals complained about the teenager, including fellow finalists Elisa Cusma Piccione of Italy, who called her "a man’’ and Russia’s Mariya Savinova who agreed , saying in Berlin: "Just look at her’’.

In fact, suspicions had been raised a month earlier when the then-unknown Semenya, 18, surged from simply being a good club runner to world leader in the African junior championships in Mauritius.

The extra hormones produced by her condition, which The Daily Telegraph revealed on September 11, would give her an advantage over "normal’’ female athletes.

The ANC has also demanded that the voiding of the tests - which would thereby free Semenya to continue competing in women-only events - should be accompanied by a public apology to the South African nation by IAAF president Lamine Diack.

"I don’t think this was a mistake by the IAAF,’’ Mthemby accused, with bitter irony. "The country is being undermined. Had we been a developed country her testing would not have been handled this way.’’

Semenya said she remains untroubled by the controversy and she will sit her university sports science exams this week.

The ANC’s lack of impartiality was revealed when Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also part of the ANC investigation, declared on August 25: "They can stuff their insults. This is our little girl and nobody is going to perform any test on her.’’

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that won’t make it go away, even if they have a case it just delays it till the correct process is followed.

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Caster Semenya row continues as Lamine Diack cancels South Africa trip

• IAAF president may take meeting to neutral ground

• ANC renew demand for an apology from Diack

Owen Gibson
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 October 2009 20.18 BST

Lamine Diack, the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, has cancelled a planned trip to South Africa to discuss the results of Caster Semenya’s gender verification test with the athlete and government representatives.

The IAAF president had made plans to meet with the South African government this weekend amid continued claim and counter-claim over the controversy surrounding the athlete’s gender that followed her 800m victory at the World Championships in Berlin in August.

Diack will instead travel to a sports industry conference in the Russian city of Kazan. It is understood that he has not ruled out travelling to South Africa next month and still hopes to sit down with Semenya and her representatives to reach some conclusions before the IAAF Council meets in Monaco on 20 November.

The ANC, the ruling party in South Africa, earlier this week renewed its demands for an apology from Diack while a committee set up to look into the affair said the IAAF results should be declared “null and void” because it had not followed its own procedures.

“The country is being undermined. Our view is that if Caster was an athlete from a developed country, we would not be where we are,” said an ANC spokesman earlier this week.

IAAF insiders had hoped the admission from Leonard Chuene, the president of Athletics South Africa, that he had lied about whether a gender test had been carried out on Semenya prior to the Championships in Berlin would help quell the febrile atmosphere in the country. But the fault lines have been redrawn in recent days. Chuene, who in the immediate aftermath of the issue becoming headline news around the world accused the IAAF of “racism, pure and simple”, has retained the support of the South African sports minister. Some South African officials have insisted that Diack be forced to apologise before entering the country.

Diack has vowed to disregard the latest wave of criticism as he seeks to find a way forward. One option being discussed is the possibility of brokering a meeting with government officials representing Semenya on neutral ground.

That could see IAAF and the South African government each nominating members for a panel of experts that could gather in another African city, such as Dakar in Diack’s native Senegal, to examine the available evidence and discuss a way forward.

The IAAF has yet to see the results of any tests carried out by Athletics South Africa or make public the results of its own tests. Leaked reports have repeatedly suggested that they show Semenya has levels of testosterone three times higher than normal. IAAF insiders insist that the welfare of the athlete remains their paramount concern.

It is understood to be highly unlikely that Semenya, who is supposed to be sitting sports science exams at the University of Pretoria, will be stripped of her gold medal. An IAAF meeting in November will discuss plans for a wholesale review of its guidelines on gender verification, which were last updated in 2003

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THIS STORY LINKS TO A PDF CONTAINING FIVE A4-SIZE PAGES OF THE CONFIDENTIAL REPORT SUBMITTED BY DR HAROLD ADAMS TO SACOC IN THE INQUIRY INTO THE CASTER SEMENYA FIASCO…

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/more-sports/doctor-slams-team-boss-over-caster-semenya-scandal/story-e6frey6i-1225791490272

Doctor slams team boss over Caster Semenya scandal
By Mike Hurst
From: The Daily Telegraph
Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 EST 2009 Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 EST 2009

Fallout continues…Caster Semenya. Source: AP

DR HAROLD Adams, the medico at the centre of the Caster Semenya controversy, has broken his silence on the furore in a damning report to the South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee.

The lengthy report, which The Daily Telegraph has obtained, damns Athletics South Africa’s president Leonard Chuene for "politicising’’ and sensationalising the case of Semenya, who ignored Dr Adams’ recommendation to withdraw her from the world athletics championships before she won the 800m on August 19 by the widest margin in major championship history.

Read Dr Adams’ full report here

On September 11, The Daily Telegraph published information from a Semenya sex test that showed she was an hermaphrodite or intersexual with no womb, undescended testes which were probably responsible for her having three times more testosterone than "normal’’ females.

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Related Coverage
Athletics: ANC demands new Caster sex tests
Athletics: South Africa knew Semenya’s secret
Mike Hurst: Is a medal worth a young woman’s sanity
Athletics: Drunks break up Semenya meeting
Fresh look: Makeover for gender test athlete
Athletics: Carl Lewis fumes over Semenya scandal
Under scrutiny : Gender bender row runs into new twist
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Read how we broke the story here.

In his report, Dr Adams confirms his advice to Chuene to stop Semenya racing on the world stage in a women-only event, saying: "I sincerely believe that Mr Chuene’s decision to refuse that Ms Semenya be withdrawn was reckless, short-sighted and grossly irresponsible.’’

Dr Adams added: "Did the possibility of a medal in the case of Ms Semenya reign supreme in Mr Chuene’s mind, and clouded his judgement, and relegated Ms Semenya’s interest, welfare and protection to an insignificant level in his mind. Did Mr Chuene consult with the ‘high-powered politicians’ to merely get an endorsement and political backing for his pre-conceived plan of getting a medal at all costs, as he stated himself that he wanted to ‘politicise the issue and cause confusion’?

"It is obvious to me that Mr Chuene’s orgy of lies had absolutely nothing to do with Ms Semenya, but had all to do with Mr Chuene’s welfare. I sincerely hope that Mr Chuene will one day meet his comeuppance for his actions.’’

By playing the race card early and often, Chuene and some other ASA and South African government officials created public hostility towards the International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack who last week gave up on the idea of visiting South Africa to speak personally to Semenya.

And the race card was dealt again yesterday when Dr Simon Dlamini, chairman of ASA’s finance committee, hit back at Dr Adams’ report saying it had been motivated by the fact that in winning the world title Semenya, a black, had broken the South African junior 800m record set 26 years ago by Zola Budd, a white athlete.

"The whole issue is [because] the girl broke the record [of] Zola Budd,’’ Dlamini said.

"There are people out there who are walking along a racial path; we unify the community and they break it apart.’’

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South Africa athletics board suspended over Semenya tests
Reuters
Last updated 06:38 06/11/2009

South Africa’s Olympic governing body has suspended the president and board of Athletics South Africa over their handling of 800 metres world champion Caster Semenya’s gender verification tests.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) announced on Thursday that ASA President Leonard Chuene and the ASA board would be "suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation and further action.

“The suspended individuals will appear before a disciplinary enquiry to answer charges of bringing ASA, the sport of athletics, SASCOC and sport in general into disrepute,” the statement said.

SASCOC said it was also considering “taking appropriate action against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for its disregard of Ms Semenya’s rights to privacy”.

Semenya, 18, destroyed the field to take the women’s 800 world title in Berlin in August in the fastest time of the year.

The IAAF had already begun a gender verification process prior to the race but Semenya was allowed to compete pending the outcome of the tests.

It was subsequently disclosed that ASA conducted gender verification tests on Semenya in South Africa before she competed in Berlin. ASA President Leonard Chuene admitted lying about the tests, saying he had wanted to protect the athlete’s privacy.

No decision on the tests is expected until later this month but the IAAF has declined to comment on a report in Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in September which said Semenya had both male and female sexual characteristics.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/3037477/Fallout-from-Semenya-gender-test

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Semenya row claims Chuene
5 November 2009

Hand-in-hand: Caster Semenya with Leonard Chuene

Winnie Madikizela Mandela and ANC have stern words for athletics bosses

Caster lauded at ANCYL gala dinner

Athletics SA president Leonard Chuene and the ASA Board have been suspended with immediate effect - pending a disciplinary investigation into their handling of the row over Caster Semenya’s gender tests.

The suspension was announced today by South Africa’s Olympic governing body, SASCOC.

SASCOC said it is also considering “taking appropriate action against the IAAF for its disregard of Semenya’s rights to privacy” following speculation over her gender.

Semenya won the women’s 800m title at the World Championships in Berlin in August, but reports have said that she underwent a gender test and Chuene later admitted to lying about the results.

In a statement, SASCOC said it called a Special Board meeting and "resolved unanimously as follows:

  1. Mr Leonard Chuene should be suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation and further action.

  2. Mr Kakata Maponyane, Mr Molatelo Malehopo and Ms Phiwe Mlangeni should be suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation and further action.

  3. The Board of ASA and its Members should be suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation and further action.

  4. Mr Humile Bogatsu should be suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation and further action.

  5. SASCOC should consider taking appropriate action against IAAF for its disregard of Ms Semenya’s rights to privacy (and)

That the suspended individuals will appear before a disciplinary enquiry to answer charges of bringing ASA, the sport of athletics, SASCOC and sport in general into disrepute."

It was also recommended that SASCOC Board Member Ray Mali should be appointed as the administrator of Athletics South Africa, to organise the appointment of an interim board pending the outcome of the disciplinary enquiry.

Sowetan Online

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I am also confounded by the logic of SASCOC: According to the reports eminating from SA, they suspended Chuene et al for lying about Semenya having a sex test. And they are considering whether to take some kind of action against the IAAF. Why? Because they did NOT lie when asked whether Semenya was having a sex test?

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The hole is getting deeper and the one is going to destory in the end is Semenya. Poor kid

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I’m sure you are wrong there. Plenty of collateral damage in Sth Africa. Many people are being destroyed and more to come…the Semenya Saga is certainly tragic, but need never have come to public light had it not been for the ruthless pursuit of personal glory by certain ASA administrators and ANC politicans. The Semenya Saga is a symptom of a wider disease within the ASA-ANC; systemic failure on a global scale. . . read on:

Elite South African athletes and a national coach have stood up against Athletics South Africa (ASA) for alleged incompetence.

Much of the criticism in a joint statement revolved around the team managers at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in August, including ASA president Leonard Chuene’s personal assistant, Humile Bogatsu, and ASA events manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane.

Chuene, Bogatsu and Tsholetsane were all suspended, along with other ASA employees and board members including general manager Molatelo Malehopo, by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) on Thursday for their handling of the Caster Semenya gender debacle.

And some of the athletes who competed in Berlin, including former world junior 200m champion Paul Gorries, Magda Botha, the team’s sprint coach and former Olympic walker Nicolene Cronje, have hit out at them with claims of mismanagement and racism.

SOME PRETTY BRAVE ATHLETES/COACHES SPEAKING OUT NOW…

“They were besotted with power - constantly trying to show the athletes who is boss,” said Gorries, who ran the 4X400m relay in Berlin.

"Phiwe knows nothing about athletics. Her comments showed this clearly! Hendrick (Mokganyetsi, team manager) was aggressive towards everybody and made numerous wrong decisions.

"Humile is nothing more than a secretary - she knows nothing about managing a team. She was also flown back and forth between Germany and SA, at ASA’s cost (to write exams).

"They (Tsholetsane and Bogatsu) were constantly shopping and not giving attention to what they were there for - managing the team. Or they were flitting around My Chuene.

“We were castigated because we did not, according to them, support Caster, but not one of them was at Khotso’s (Mokoena) or Mbulaeni’s (Mulaudzi) medal ceremonies.”

‘There is so much more that is happening in SA athletics’

An anonymous athlete who competed in Berlin, as well as the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, said the 2009 World Championships “was the worst ever”.

The unnamed athlete, who referred to the global showpiece as “bootcamp”, said there was “no communication” from management.

Botha said the team managers had “no experience”, adding that Tsholetsane “knows nothing of athletics” and Bogatsu “made no contribution to the team at all.”

She added that the tests conducted on world 800m champion Semenya had been handled “completely wrongly” and that Chuene, who later admitted to lying about the tests, had tried to force the team to cover up the mess management had created.

"In the last meeting before our return, Leonard tried to convince us this was the best team management ever in the history of SA athletics and that, if we had a problem, we had to remember we are a family and a family does not speak out.

“It was clear what he was trying to say - that nothing from Berlin should be discussed with anyone on our return.”

Cronje, who has not competed since she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2007, said she had been physically assaulted by Malehopo at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, when she was 19 years old.

“Molatelo Malehopo called me aside together with Snowy Matthews and Magda Botha and he lost his temper,” she recalled.

"He smacked me several times in the face, to the extent that Snowy had to come between us and stop him.

"The next day Leonard Chuene called me in and asked me what happened. I told him, and his words to me were: “My child, should this get out to the press or your family, your athletics career is over. Let’s pretend it never happened”.

Cronje said she hoped to compete again but was worried about the state of the sport.

“There is so much more that is happening in SA athletics and I am not sure if we will ever get to the bottom of it,” she said.

“Sponsors withdrawing, cheap clothing being issued to athletes, money disappearing, athletes being mistreated, bad accommodation and food for athletes… and so the list goes on.” - Sapa

81

Chief suspended over Semenya row

November 06, 2009 8:37AM
By Mike Hurst
AS the lights went out at Athletics South Africa headquarters, controversial president Leonard Chuene and his entire board were suspended by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

The all-powerful SASCOC acted belatedly but with savage intent to end the madness that has been the ASA’s incompetent and ruthless management of the Caster Semenya affair in which Chuene lied when he said no sex tests had been conducted on their wondergirl in South Africa before she won the women’s 800m at the world athletics championships in Berlin on August 19.

Chuene, certainly with the support and perhaps even at the behest of some ANC government office-bearers, blatantly ignored firm medical advice not to permit Semenya to run in Berlin where she was first accused of “being a man”.

Now The Daily Telegraph has learned ASA’s office electricity was cut off due to non-payment of bills and the blundering federation has no more than 20,000 rand ($3300) in the bank.

82

Sorry KitKat. The officials and administrator are being cut, but they can go back into the hole and get on with there lives. Semenya athletic career and life as it stands at the moment is not great.

I hope I am proven wrong about this.

83

My apols to you. What I thought you were saying was that Semenya was the Only person who was being messed up. Certainly her life and career are in strife. But the board have all been suspended and ridiculed in every media around the world, including saturation coverage in Sth Africa. It would be hard for anyone in RSA to trust anything Chuene had to say ever again, so how you anyone employ him. He’s such a snake anyway, why would anyone want to…

84

I read today that ASA owe 1,5 million rand, some (all?) athletes are still owed prizemoney from 2007. Athletes have complained about cheap (& nasty) gear, lack of support, team members treated along racial lines - blacks being allowed to fly from Berlin to SA to sit exams and then were flown back to Berlin, while whites were allowed to fly home also for exams, but would not have their fare paid back to berlin… this whole ASA expose started with a gender issue and has now been revealed as a racial issue.

85

fROM tHE tIMES OF sOUTH aFRICA
[u]but the real story is at the bottom of the page[/u]

FINAL CALL FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ASA TO RESIGN

9 November 2009

On 30 September 2009 three of ASA’s member provinces called upon the Board of Athletics South Africa to explain why they did not disclose from the outset that tests had been conducted, on ASA’s instruction, on a South African athlete before the World Championships in Athletics; why the ASA Council meeting in Tshwane was not notified of this fact; why the ASA members were not notified that they had not been told the truth before the press conference was held on 19 September 2009 and to disclose what other facts, if any, they had been concealing. They were further called upon to explain why no action has been taken against any officials or employees of ASA who were party to the ordering of the tests and the events that followed.

The ASA Board never responded. It is now clear that ASA could not respond, as it had chosen to and had done tests; it had deliberately and consciously misled ASA’s members at the Tshwane meeting; it had no intention of ever telling the truth; and the facts they were concealing would inevitably bring about their own downfall. No steps were taken against any officials or employees, as the entire Board was directly implicated themselves.

At the Special General Meeting on 24 September 2009, the meeting unanimously agreed that ASA would co-operate with any statutory commission of enquiry. That commission of enquiry has taken its course, but the Board of ASA is now not happy with the outcome and seeks to contest it through legal means. The ASA Board does not have the mandate of all its member provinces to engage in any legal proceedings against SASCOC.

On 9 October 2009 a formal request was made for ASA’s most recent financial statements. On 19 October 2009 the General Manager of ASA asked for time to the end of that week to respond. To date there has been no response and, in breach of the Companies Act, no financial statements have been distributed.

On 5 November 2009 the Board of ASA issued an apology. However, the apology came only after the findings of a task team of one political party, and when it was clear that the game was up. Most importantly, there was no apology to the members of ASA who were lied to repeatedly.

Subsequent reports have shown that the management of ASA is riddled with corruption, ineptitude and outright incompetence. There is a very real risk that ASA is insolvent, which will prejudice ASA’s athletes, members and suppliers.

The response of the members of the ASA Board to all these developments has been to attack everyone else and to try to introduce race into the matter. There is no question that everyone wishes to see South Africa transformed from the dark days of the past, and the current ASA Board are not the only ones who seek to achieve that. The quest for a non-racial society and non-racial sport is not negotiable.

It has become clear that the Board of Athletics South Africa has no respect for either the truth or the members of ASA. It is also clear that the ASA Board will not hesitate to waste further money on yet more futile legal action. While the members of the Board are protecting their own positions, the sport and the athletes suffer. Athletics South Africa is now, in differing degrees, in conflict with the International Association of Athletics Federation, the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee and all political parties in South Africa. There is no clearer indication that the Board of ASA has brought the organisation into disrepute.

[b]The members of the Board of Athletics South Africa are called upon to reconsider their decision to not resign. However, should they fail to do so by 12:00 on Wednesday morning, they will risk facing the following consequences:

  1. Formal charges will be laid with the ASA Disciplinary Committee against each individual member of the ASA Board for bringing the sport of Athletics and ASA into disrepute and also for violating the ASA constitution.

The Disciplinary Committee shall be requested to expel the individuals concerned from ASA and to ban them for life.

  1. A Special General Meeting of ASA will be called to consider a motion of impeachment against each individual member of the ASA Board.

  2. Criminal charges shall be laid against each individual member of the ASA Board for various breaches of the Companies Act, including the failure to provide members with financial statements despite a direct request.

  3. Criminal charges will be laid against each individual member of the ASA Board for fraud, for intentionally lying to the members of ASA on 12 September 2009, with the intention of causing them to act to their prejudice or potential prejudice.

Further, should ASA fail to pay to all athletes all outstanding and overdue prize moneys and to pay to all member provinces all moneys owing to them for hosting ASA events, legal steps will be taken to recover such moneys.

The individual ASA Board members are advised that should it prove to be the case that ASA is in fact insolvent, they will face the full impact of the law, and should it be shown that they were involved in reckless trading they will be held personally liable.[/b]
The members of the ASA Board and their supporters are called upon to place the interests of the sport first.

Statement made on behalf of:
Athletics Free State
Boland Athletics
Eastern Province Athletics
Western Province Athletics