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Athletics SA (ASA) will report a deficit of about R13 million at its annual general meeting on August 1.
This is according to a draft financial statement for the year ended December 31 2014.
The big ASA debt comes primarily from a R10 million lawsuit that was instituted against the cash-strapped federation by injured pole vaulter Jan Blignaut.
According to the financial report, the additional R10 million had to be included with R3 million put down under operating expenses to provisionally cover the claim.
Blignaut has since received an undisclosed payment from the ASA. The federation was ordered to pay him R10.4 million in an uncontested court case in September last year.
“The biggest debt is the R10 million and SARS [SA Revenue Service payments],” said
ASA president Aleck Skhosana without disclosing the amount owed in taxes.
City Press reported in May that the ASA owed SARS about R6.2 million in unpaid tax.
The athletics body was expected to propose a suitable payment plan for the remainder of Blignaut’s debt.
The athlete’s lawyers threatened to file a second urgent application for the sale in execution of the ASA’s head office building if the organisation did not make its payment plan known.
“Blignaut’s case has not been finalised, but we are doing whatever we have to,” said Skhosana.
Despite the gloomy financial picture, Skhosana said the federation’s debt “should be less than the R20 million that media reports have estimated”.
He said the organisation was still able to meet its operating costs and financial requirements to deliver track and field teams to international competitions.
The ASA this week named a provisional team for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Beijing, China, next month.
The organisation also sent a team to Colombia for the IAAF World Youth Championships, which ends today.
“We get support from different institutions X Sascoc [the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee], the national lottery, the government and from our coffers. We are surviving,” said Skhosana.
“When we came in [in June last year], we captured everything owed by the ASA for the past six years.”
According to the financial report, in 2013 alone, the ASA incurred R1.7 million in legal fees as a result of claims instituted against it by previous board members.
Former ASA president James Evans and his board resigned in February last year after IAAF intervention.
The federation, which has not had a corporate sponsor since 2012, signed a broadcast deal for an undisclosed amount with the SABC a few months ago.
Skhosana said: “There has been some excitement from our side ... because we wanted the athletes to run and the coaches to do their jobs.
“We are looking forward to the IAAF World Championships and the African Games [in Brazzaville, Congo] in September. We will then take stock of what we have achieved this season going into the Olympic year [next year].”
