Athletes stranded in shame

POLOKWANE – When 115 star athletes from primary schools all over the province were left stranded in the city under the blazing sun without anything to eat or drink last Thursday, the department of education blamed “miscommunication” for the entire debacle.

WATCH VIDEO

According to education head of communication, Dr Naledzani Rasila, “miscommunication” was responsible for the fact that transport and accom-modation were not arranged for the athletes who were on their way to attend the National Primary Schools Athletics Championships in Germiston.

“It is unfortunate that our athletes were exposed to such an experience; this is never the way the department runs its activities. The athletes were supposed to find transport, attire and food arranged for them on the day.
“The event takes place annually and plans were supposed to have been made in advance.

Unfortunately there were miscommunication and poor planning on the part of the relevant sports coordinating office of the department.
“The department would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused, ” Rasila said.

The buses would have departed at 07:00 at the department of educations’ provincial headquarters, to be taken to the national championship in Germiston. Athletes would also have been collected at points along the N1. The arrangement was that the athletes were obliged to travel in the buses while parents were welcome to travel along in their own transport.

Parents waiting to see their children depart at the department’s offices, said officials from the department informed them at 09:10 that there were some problems, and they should allow two hours to resolve them. The parents said the officials said they were waiting for the buses, which were “on their way”, and they would talk to the parents again at 11:15.

Some parents had already left their homes at 03:00 to get to the buses in Polokwane on time.
A member of Limpopo Schools Athletics, the committee responsible for the coordination of the logistics involving the athletes’ participation in the championship, spoke to Review on condition of anonymity, and said the committee had delivered all the relevant documentation to the education department in time.

While the athletes and some parents continued to wait, it was also revealed that although the education department had assured athletes in a letter dated March 9, that accommodation would be arranged for them, this had not yet been done.
Team tracksuits would also have been given to each athlete.

Neither committee members nor teachers were allowed to talk to Review about this matter. Some parents of the athletes spoke to Review on condition of anonymity, voicing their dissatisfaction at the situation. Some said they would not allow their children to participate next year due to the poor organisation this year.

Buses eventually arrived and departed just before 14:00, meaning that the majority of the team missed the championship’s opening ceremony and athletes’ grand parade. Only 10 athletes from the province, whose parents eventually transported them to the championship, attended the opening. However, they were a very mismatched group as they were dressed in their different schools’ tracksuits as the promised team tracksuits never materialised. The athletes were given different athletics gear that had been left over from previous years’ events on Friday morning, just before the event started.

Asked what action would be taken against those responsible for the debacle, Rasila said the unfortunate situation was not expected to happen in future.
“The department is looking into the matter and those responsible for the debacle will be summoned to provide a report on the matter. To make sure this does not happen in future, the department will study the report carefully and immediately come up with corrective measures,” he said.

High school athletes are due to depart for their championship today (Thursday).