No food, beds or plan: Limpopo athletes left embarrassed at nationals

POLOKWANE – In a recurring nightmare for Limpopo’s school athletes, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has again failed to properly manage the logistics of a major sporting event, leading to the withdrawal of the provincial team from the South African Schools Athletics Championships held in Bloemfontein last week.

This marks another chapter in a long history of poor planning and mismanagement that has repeatedly plagued Limpopo athletes.

Limpopo Schools Athletics (Limsa) secretary, Tony Ramothata, confirmed that the withdrawal was due to inadequate accommodation, transportation and meals for the athletes, with many of the issues emerging well before the competition even began.

She described the situation as “disastrous” and claimed it had “demoralised both the athletes and their parents even before the competition”.

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The provincial delegation, arrived in for their bootcamp in Polokwane to find that only 18 athletes had accommodation booked, leaving over 80 athletes without a place to stay.

Additionally, many athletes went without food, causing significant distress.

“This started when we were told the night before the event that there would be no breakfast served during rehearsals at the University of Limpopo stadium,” Ramothata related.

The lack of preparation continued throughout the event. Athletes were reportedly housed in open-plan accommodation facilities with technical officials, where they had to bathe, sleep and prepare for their events in unsanitary and cramped conditions.

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The situation worsened when transport delays, caused by food orders that were not prepared in time, led to the Limpopo officials missing their briefings at the opening of the national championships in Bloemfontein.

In one extreme case, officials had to beg for athletes to eat at a hotel they had not been booked for, after their accommodation did not include meals. In some instances, athletes were forced to sleep on the bus due to the substandard quality of their accommodation.

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This mismanagement and lack of consideration for the athletes’ well-being led some parents to withdraw their children from the event altogether.

The chaotic conditions ultimately forced Limsa to pull out of the competition entirely. The DA in the province expressed concern over the incident, demanding that the department take full responsibility for the fiasco.

“This is not the first time such a situation has occurred,” said a DA’s Adv Franco Marx. “The department’s consistent failure to plan and organise these events is unacceptable.”

In response, the MEC for Sport, Jerry Maseko, acknowledged the incident as “regrettable” and promised a full-scale investigation into the mismanagement of the event.

Maseko assured that “necessary steps will be taken based on the outcome of the investigations,” and expressed his sincere apologies to the learners, parents, and teachers affected by the fiasco.

The mother of a learner at Tom Naude Technical School said children children who left with their luggage from the government bus were disqualified from representing team Limpopo and competed in their personal capacities, mostly supported by their parents who were wee present.

A pattern of mismanagement

This latest incident is far from an isolated case.

In 2015, athletes from Limpopo secondary school athletes were nearly left stranded en route to the national championships in Rustenburg due to the same logistical failures.

Despite the department’s earlier shortcomings with primary school athletes, who were left stranded in Polokwane without food or transport, the situation was allowed to repeat itself with the secondary school team.

Athletes were forced to wait for hours for buses, which eventually arrived late, leading to delays and confusion.

Upon arrival at the stadium, many athletes had to wear old uniforms from previous years due to the department’s failure to arrange adequate clothing.

Accommodation was arranged 60 km from the stadium, and athletes were forced to travel long distances every day, leading to fatigue and poor performances.

Similarly, in 2019, Limpopo learners participating in the national cross-country competition were left stranded in White River, Mpumalanga, after the department blamed a travel agency for the mishap.

Athletes ended up hungry and sleeping on a bus, an embarrassing incident that further highlighted the department’s poor planning.

Unmet promises and unresolved issues

Previously commenting on the pattern of poor management, Peter Maluleke, secretary of Limsa, expressed deep frustration with the ongoing failures of the department.

“We have been raising these issues for years, and it seems like nothing ever changes,” Maluleke said.

“This could have been avoided if the department had planned ahead and communicated with us properly.”

In 2015, the department’s communication was cited as a major problem.

A “miscommunication” was blamed for the chaos that left over 100 primary school athletes without food, transport, or accommodation on their way to the national primary schools athletics championships in Germiston.

Despite assurances from the department that they would rectify the situation and yet another investigation launched, similar incidents continue to occur year after year, much to the embarrassment of the province’s athletes, their parents, coaches and schools.