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Johannesburg - Athletics South Africa (ASA) assistant administrator Richard Stander has hit out at critics who have accused the federation's interim administrators of poor management.
"There are people who are following their own agendas," Stander said on Monday. "I'm concerned about that because they're looking out for their own well being, and not the well being of the athletes, which is what we're here for."
Stander was brought in by ASA administrator Ray Mali earlier this year to run the technical side of the federation while South Africa's Olympic governing body (SASCOC) remains in control, having taken over six months ago after they suspended the ASA board and three employees who have yet to face disciplinary hearings.
Last week Stander was accused by athletics officials and sports agents of making multiple errors in calculating the prize winners of the domestic track and field season - with as much as R305 000 believed to have been given to the wrong athletes - but he remained adamant on Monday that no mistake had been made.
He said former sprinter Arnaud Malherbe, head of the SA Athletes' Commission, had "made the most noise" in pointing out possible errors, but accused the joint South African 400m record holder of having "his own agenda".
According to the official points table on the IAAF website, however, there seem to be numerous errors in ASA's calculations.
It is believed that the programme used by ASA to calculate points, in order to allocate prize money, has not been updated in line with adjustments to the IAAF table. But Stander insisted they had made no errors and at this stage there were no plans to alter the prize winners.
"We've been using the same system to calculate points the whole season," Stander said.
"People keep showing me different tables and points calculations, but there are people like Arnaud Malherbe who don't have the athletes' interests at heart. He's following his own agenda and I'm not even sure who he's representing.
"I have spoken to some of the athletes involved, and I am still waiting for feedback from others, but we'll discuss it with them if they have any queries."
Stander also struck back at Maggie Dicks, head of track and field at Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA), who accused ASA of scheduling an athletics meeting in their province next month without their consent.
Dicks said ASA had not been in contact with CGA and that the Herman Immelman Stadium in Germiston was unavailable on June 19.
"We asked the provincial members to organise some events, five of which have already been announced, which will be used for athletes to prove their fitness ahead of the African Championships and Commonwealth Games," Stander said.
"The provinces gave us the dates on which they could host these meetings. We got that information from them and then we published it in a press release.
"If we hadn't spoken to anyone at CGA, then where did we get the dates from? We didn't just pick them at random."
Stander said the ASA interim board would meet this weekend to discuss some "exciting developments and business arrangements", and called for the provinces to "work with us".
"The board will endorse some of these things, which will include some very exciting stuff, and we'll be announcing some of these developments soon," Stander said. "But we need the provinces to come on board regarding these business arrangements if it is to benefit all stakeholders in the sport, and we need to continue improving our working relationship with the member associations.
"But I can tell you now, without a doubt, there are people who will discredit these exciting developments. They have their own agendas and won't endorse anything we do."
The SA Athletes' Commission met at the weekend but Malherbe said he was waiting for feedback from athletes who could not attend, and they would release a statement later this week.
