VETERAN sports administrator Ntambi Ravele is holding the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) hostage.
The only way that Sascoc can free themselves from the no-nonsense Ravele, is by reinstating her presidential candidacy.
Come hell or high water, Ravele will be reinstated in the election, or else she will take drastic measures to deal with the SA Olympic movement.
She has already written a series of letters to Minister of Sports Nathi Mthethwa to intervene, but she still has one big ace up her sleeve that could deal Sascoc a big blow, if her demands are not granted.
Ravele will pen a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to intervene, if her arbitration case with Sascoc fails to be resolved.
Ravele, who is the board member of Tennis SA (TSA), is using the constitution of Sascoc to fight the organisation and she is not showing any signs of slowing down until she is given what she feels she deserves.
Ravele took TSA president Gavin Crookes and suspended Sascoc acting president Barry Hendricks to arbitration for political interference. The pair blocked her Sascoc presidential ambitions unlawfully in February.
Her arbitration hearing started on 1 June and it was found that Sascoc attorneys behaved unethically and compromised the hearing and it prompted Ravele to write to Sascoc to complain and the SA sports body ruled in her favour.
As a result of her complaint, the whole arbitration process was scrapped and a new one will commence from scratch. The entire month of June was wasted as a new hearing will start this month, and it’s not known how long it will take before the outcome is released.
A source said that Ravele will stop at nothing until she is reinstated in the elections as a legitimate candidate.
“She will write to IOC for them to intervene, and if she does that Sascoc will be put under administration. That is the last thing that Sascoc wants,” the source told SunSport.
Sascoc acting CEO Ravi Govender admitted that there are problems regarding the arbitration, and he promises that they will engage with all the parties involved to ensure that they will have a fair process.
“The issue is complicated, but we are dealing with it in the best possible way. It will take a while, but we are on top of it,” said Govender.
