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Johannesburg - Athletics SA's (ASA) interim administration will not address issues raised by Arnaud Malherbe, a member of the ASA athletes' commission, an official said on Thursday.
"There are structures in place for athletes to voice their grievances," ASA assistant administrator Richard Stander said.
"Once a decision has been made regarding an athlete's complaint, if they disagree with the outcome, there are various systems in place including mediation and arbitration.
"There are steps that need to be taken through the federation's structures, from club level, through to provincial and national level."
Stander said all of the federation's commissions were inactive and refused to address numerous issues raised by Malherbe.
However, it was agreed at a special general meeting in March that none of them had been suspended.
The federation was suspended by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) in November last year, but James Evans, who resigned from the ASA interim board earlier this year, said that ban was lifted in a meeting at SASCOC House later that month.
In the minutes of the special council meeting in March it states that "commissions are not suspended -- will meet with them later".
In the same minutes it states that the ASA interim board will remain in control of the athletics federation "until after the 2012 Olympic Games".
Malherbe, the South African record holder in the men's 400m sprint, is also the spokesman for a group calling themselves "concerned athletes".
One of the issues raised by Malherbe concerns the allocation of prize money for the domestic track and field season. The embattled federation received numerous complaints from athletes, coaches, managers and officials on the same subject, but Stander insisted no errors were made.
"I was approached by athletes about the Yellow Pages Series prize money, but I showed them the points tables we used and none of them came back to me," he said.
According to Stander, they used the official IAAF points tables in awarding prize money throughout the season.
According to those tables, however, the federation gave over R300 000 to the wrong athletes.
Among Malherbe's other complaints, on behalf of the "concerned athletes" and the athletes' commission, was the selection for the national team to compete at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada later this month.
Athletes and coaches were up in arms last week, apparently unaware that ASA had changed the qualifying criteria earlier this year when they insisted that athletes would have to set the standards in their events during a six-week window period.
Malherbe and Sam Mlangeni, also a spokesman for the "concerned athletes", had turned down an invitation to meet the interim board, because Malherbe has "a clear mandate to represent the athletes as a member of the athletes' commission, as per the ASA constitution".
Malherbe said he and Mlangeni had been appointed as official athletes' spokesperson at an athletes' meeting on May 15.
"This decision was distributed to over 200 athletes countrywide and there was no objection from anyone," Malherbe said.
The ASA interim board requested to meet Malherbe and Mlangeni "not later than July 16" to clarify certain issues, including which athletes they represented and how they obtained "a mandate to represent ASA athletes as stated in the media and communication to ASA members".
"There are structures in place for athletes to voice their grievances," ASA assistant administrator Richard Stander said.
"Once a decision has been made regarding an athlete's complaint, if they disagree with the outcome, there are various systems in place including mediation and arbitration.
"There are steps that need to be taken through the federation's structures, from club level, through to provincial and national level."
Stander said all of the federation's commissions were inactive and refused to address numerous issues raised by Malherbe.
However, it was agreed at a special general meeting in March that none of them had been suspended.
The federation was suspended by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) in November last year, but James Evans, who resigned from the ASA interim board earlier this year, said that ban was lifted in a meeting at SASCOC House later that month.
In the minutes of the special council meeting in March it states that "commissions are not suspended -- will meet with them later".
In the same minutes it states that the ASA interim board will remain in control of the athletics federation "until after the 2012 Olympic Games".
Malherbe, the South African record holder in the men's 400m sprint, is also the spokesman for a group calling themselves "concerned athletes".
One of the issues raised by Malherbe concerns the allocation of prize money for the domestic track and field season. The embattled federation received numerous complaints from athletes, coaches, managers and officials on the same subject, but Stander insisted no errors were made.
"I was approached by athletes about the Yellow Pages Series prize money, but I showed them the points tables we used and none of them came back to me," he said.
According to Stander, they used the official IAAF points tables in awarding prize money throughout the season.
According to those tables, however, the federation gave over R300 000 to the wrong athletes.
Among Malherbe's other complaints, on behalf of the "concerned athletes" and the athletes' commission, was the selection for the national team to compete at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada later this month.
Athletes and coaches were up in arms last week, apparently unaware that ASA had changed the qualifying criteria earlier this year when they insisted that athletes would have to set the standards in their events during a six-week window period.
Malherbe and Sam Mlangeni, also a spokesman for the "concerned athletes", had turned down an invitation to meet the interim board, because Malherbe has "a clear mandate to represent the athletes as a member of the athletes' commission, as per the ASA constitution".
Malherbe said he and Mlangeni had been appointed as official athletes' spokesperson at an athletes' meeting on May 15.
"This decision was distributed to over 200 athletes countrywide and there was no objection from anyone," Malherbe said.
The ASA interim board requested to meet Malherbe and Mlangeni "not later than July 16" to clarify certain issues, including which athletes they represented and how they obtained "a mandate to represent ASA athletes as stated in the media and communication to ASA members".
