Swimming South Africa (SSA), the governing body of Africa’s most successful country in aquatic sports, is under investigation by the country’s Special Investigations Unit. The investigation relates to the organization’s unfinished High Performance Centre.
World Aquatics, the National Lotteries Commission, and The Sports Trust contributed a collective 49.5 million South African rand ($3 million USD) to the Centre, which has now been under construction for five years. South African publication Daily Maverick described the center’s current state as “a devastated wasteland” and “post-apocalyptic”. See the publication’s story and pictures here.
The site of this so-called wasteland sits in Franschoek, a locality about an hour’s drive west of Cape Town. When talks started a decade ago, the complex was intended to serve as South Africa’s national team base and be one of four of World Aquatics-accredited High Performance Centres in the world. The complex borders the government school, Franschhoek High School. International junior scholarship recipients from World Aquatics were to attend high school and train there beginning in 2023.
Instead, the site’s pools hold only sewage water, its bathrooms are covered in feces, and unfinished buildings are vandalized with broken doors and windows.
Since 2024, all the organizations involved in the development have been finger-pointing at each other. Accusations of corruption, stealing, and blackmail were hurled from all parties. This includes Swimming South Africa, Franschhoek High School, and Train Camp, a local sports facility developer company. The latter two organizations had previously collaborated together on a rugby complex adjacent to the high school.
The Maverick’s report only mentions SSA as being investigated, and there is no information about the investigation yet on the Special Investigation Unit’s website. A spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit told the Maverick that the investigation is in its early phases, and therefore, many of the investigation’s details cannot yet be disclosed.
Local politician Grechard Petersen released a statement in support of the investigation.
“Councillor Petersen supports the SIU investigation and demands full accountability for every rand of public money that cannot be properly accounted for,” his website reads. “Where evidence of wrongdoing exists, decisive action must follow.”
Internally, SSA experienced a lot of turmoil and legal action recently. This includes a legal battle with artistic swimmers after sending them home from the World Championships, a separatist movement from the organization among some water polo players, and a lawsuit from a diving parent over her son not being selected for the World Junior Championships.
Retired South African National Swimmer here, been happening for years, its why so many of the trips to worlds or any major international event is self funded, if we are lucky enough to get funding for trips we usually arrive a day before the competition no matter the jet lag or time difference, while other teams have been there two weeks prior, a climatizing and adapting to the food
Appears as if the project was doomed from the beginning. No wonder that they were making their elite athletes pay their own way to major events, no money left. Just sad.
Did they build a 5 lane pool as a part of the “high performance” center? The biggest pool I see in that article looks like 5 lanes.
definitely not a HPC facility