Cash-rich Sascoc shows big surplus, but some basic maths left wanting

The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) is bucking the trend of economic decline, reporting a R101m turnover along with a R43.9m surplus for the year ended March 31 2023.

And its coffers could grow even further with the statement in its annual financial report, to be discussed at the AGM on Saturday, that a new major sponsor is in the works.

Bidvest, named earlier in 2023 in a deal worth R66m from mid-2022 to July 31 2026, is the first of four top-line sponsors targeted by Sascoc.

“Sascoc is at an advanced stage in securing a second major sponsor,” the umbrella body said in its report.

While revenue grew by nearly R9m, the biggest factor in the surplus was a reduction in expenses of more than R24m from the previous year to R70.1m.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) provided the biggest chunk of income, R29.5m, followed by the National Lotteries Commission (R22m), the government (R16.9m), the presidential employment stimulus programme (R19.4m), Bidvest (R11.25m) and Mr Price, with R2.1m in sponsorship and royalties.

Legal cost discrepancies 

Sascoc noted income for the previous year had to be restated because a portion of an IOC grant had been erroneously deferred to the next year. “The organisation has also evaluated its internal control processes to ensure that such an oversight is avoided in the future.”

An explanation may be required to account for an apparent R2.7m discrepancy in the legal expenses for 2021-22. In the 2022-23 report the previous year’s figure was listed at R1.58m, but in Sascoc’s report for 2021-22 this figure was stated at R4.28m. 

And there also seems to be some small, probably insignificant, mathematical errors in the 2022-23 report.

The allowances for 12 directors are totalled at R2,785,234, though calculators show this figure to be R3 too light. 

And the R656,196 external audit and R350,059 accounting fees are listed at R1,006,254, R1 less than what the total should be. 

Under expenses an amount of R947,659 is curiously attributed to the Paris Olympic Games 2023, the showpiece that is scheduled for 2024.

Sascoc’s R43.9m surplus was a major swing from the R352,177 loss the previous year.

Staff and salaries were the single-biggest expense, listed at R16.76m.

Four employees earned in excess of R6.79m, with CEO Nozipho Jafta being paid R2.5m. COO Patience Shikwambana received almost R1.79m, general manager of high performance Leon Fleiser R1.2m and executive in the CEO’s office Muriel Mutemasango R1.17m.

The rest of the staff, who number about 20, earned nearly R7.19m.

President Barry Hendricks received R345,428 in allowances while Sam Ramsamy and Anant Singh, both IOC members, opted not to take money, redirecting the cash to sport upliftment instead.

Sascoc’s second-biggest cost was the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which came in at R15.16m.

That was followed by the Region 5 Games (R9.86m), SA federations (R3.9m), world games (R3m) and travel and accommodation (R2.3m).

Labour contingencies of R11.5m

There are six items costing more than R1m — advertising (R1.5m), meetings (R1.48m), legal expenses (R1.35m), commission paid (R1.32m), consulting fees (R1.18m) and the auditing and accounting fees.

Legal issues accounted for more than R13m in the Sascoc books for the year.

Sascoc made a contingent liability of just more than R11.5m for four labour issues.

One of the issues is the long-standing Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) case involving three former employees, believed to include the case lodged by the late former CEO Tubby Reddy for R4.84m.

There is a separate labour-related matter with a claim of three years’ remuneration for R3.2m, a CCMA arbitration involving R2m damages relating to unlawful arrest and capture and unfair dismissals of R1.4m.

Sascoc said it had listed the maximum exposure in each case. “The company believes it has reasonable grounds of being successful in each of these cases.”

Its accumulated surplus is R46m.