Sacked Sascoc employees threaten to release exposé

Three sacked senior employees lashed out at the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) in an open letter to the organisation’s members at the weekend, threatening to release murky secrets within the embattled body as an ongoing power struggle gains momentum.

The letter was jointly released by former Sascoc CEO Tubby Reddy, chief financial officer Vinesh Maharaj and Jean Kelly, an executive manager, on Friday.

The trio alleged the Olympic body had “squandered” more than R6 million on the independent disciplinary inquiry which resulted in their dismissals, and accused Sascoc president Gideon Sam of causing a rift with government that led to Durban losing the hosting rights for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Reddy said the sexual harassment charges against him were fabricated, accusing the staffer who laid them of vindictiveness.

“They have very cleverly interspersed the sexual harassment charges with other charges in an attempt to cast me in a bad light.”

The trio, who are expected to appeal the dismissals, claimed they were targets of a smear campaign to discredit them ahead of the ministerial inquiry into the Sascoc board.

“There is plenty more we can say, but we will make our full submission to [sports minister Thulas Nxesi’s] commission of inquiry,” they said.

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