While Eastern Cape Sports Confederation president Mzondeleli Qotoyi allegedly enjoyed meals, fuel and other benefits paid for from confederation funds, club rugby teams were left scrambling to cover their own travel and accommodation costs and prize money, while some were drowning in debt, an internal investigation has found.
This comes after the confederation set up a task team to investigate its finances for the Eastern Cape Super 14 rugby tournament, made up of seven Border and seven Eastern Province sides, in its 2023 and 2024 seasons, owing to unpaid prize money.
The tournament was won in both those years by the East London Police Rugby Club.
The tournament is funded to the tune of R1m by the Eastern Cape department of sport, recreation, arts and culture.
Club rugby teams raised a stink after they did not get their prizes, including the overall prize money for the tournament.
The investigation found that more than R204,000 intended for prize money was allegedly misused and, of that total amount, R18,949.04 was attributed to Qotoyi.
The report lists payments by the confederation for meals, fuel and other items, some of which were without documentation.
One flagged payment to Qotoyi was for R2,142 for a meal and later R332.70 on the same day.
A further R800 was for a meal on January 4 2023, a day, according to the report, on which no meeting occurred.
Between January 6 and 8 2023, the confederation paid for fuel twice, the first time for R620 and the second for R1,537.93.
Two days later, there was an R800 payment without documentation, followed by one for R3,628.80 on the same day.
The report lists another R500 fuel payment on January 13 and a further R3,587.61 the next day.
The last transaction flagged against Qotoyi is a R5,000 payment without documentation.
The report flags other payments directed to unnamed entities which also include undocumented claims.
In one instance, according to the report, a requisition form for one of the payments made in February 2014 “surfaced” only in June 2025.
Another payment of R16,800 was recorded as reimbursement to a supplier, according to the report, even though reimbursements did not apply to suppliers.
Others include a payment of R39,120 for catering, with no invoice or requisition provided.
The report was prepared by the task team appointed in 2024.
This came after the Eastern Cape Rugby Union submitted a motion to the AGM of the Eastern Cape Sports Confederation for an investigation into the alleged maladministration and mismanagement of funds allocated for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 Super 14 rugby tournaments.
The Eastern Cape Super 14 has run annually since 2009 and features seven clubs each from Border and Eastern Province.
The Sports Confederation is an umbrella body that works with the provincial department of sport to increase sport participation, co-ordination, development and transformation.
Border Bulldogs use the tournament to scout promising talent and the tournament is one of the few paying ones in club rugby.
In 2023 and 2024, the Dispatch reported that the clubs were never paid funds meant for travelling, accommodation and prizes as per the tournament rules.
Some of the clubs’ owners were even allegedly threatened by taxi bosses because of the delayed payments.
The task team, headed by Andile Ngconjana and consisting of five members, found that bank statement analysis revealed discrepancies between reported expenses and actual transactions processed.
They found there was evidence of “double dipping”, unauthorised reimbursements and personal benefit transactions.
Funds from one edition were allegedly used to settle debts from previous editions of the tournament, compromising transparency and distorting financial reporting.
“The task team found that the leadership of the Sports Confederation (administrator and executive) are working in silos, not as a team assigned the responsibility to manage the affairs of the Eastern Cape Sports Confederation.
“This has a negative bearing on the development of sport in the province.”
Because this matter forms part of the broader issues the department is monitoring, including the use of funds and governance concerns, the department is currently gathering information and intends to adopt a holistic and well-informed approach before making a decision on the matter
— Provincial sports department spokesperson Andile Nduna
The report said the confederation’s treasurer did not have proper systems or internal controls in place for the management of the confederation’s finances.
“The Sports Confederation executive does not have a functional finance committee but only the president and the treasurer.”
It further alleged the confederation, through its president Qotoyi, restructured the Super 14 Rugby Tournament concept based on false promises by an alleged potential sponsor which was promising to invest R5m.
“The Super 14 rugby steering committee and the entire Sports Confederation executive committee were blank in terms of knowing the terms of the negotiated sponsorship, but only [Qotoyi] who secretly and dishonestly operated alone to secure the so-called deal, as there was no signed contract available over and above the false claims by the president to the other stakeholders.”
Task team secretary Lindile Mhlophe confirmed the report and its findings but declined to comment further, referring the inquiries to Qotoyi.
Approached for comment on Thursday, Qotoyi avoided answering direct questions over the phone, and did not reply to written questions sent to his WhatsApp.
Provincial sports department spokesperson Andile Nduna said the department was aware of the task team’s investigation, and acknowledged it had produced a report, which had not yet been formally submitted to the department.
“Because this matter forms part of the broader issues the department is monitoring, including the use of funds and governance concerns, the department is currently gathering information and intends to adopt a holistic and well-informed approach before making a decision on the matter.”
Nduna said the department had since written to Sascoc, the mother body for provincial confederations, seeking its intervention, and together with it “we will jointly determine an appropriate course of action, while ensuring that federations in the province do not continue to suffer”.
Sascoc president Barry Hendricks said he was aware of the issue of the alleged misused funds, but could not speak in depth as he was collecting more information.
Sascoc spokesperson Bronson Mokabela confirmed receipt of the letter from the department of sport.
“We have responded in writing accordingly, met the Sports Confederation and will be assisting them resolve this issue as a priority, as we are concerned about the provincial federation’s survival and lack of development funding needed.”
In its report, the task team recommended that the provincial sports department launch a forensic audit to probe the possibility of corrupt practices relating to public funds allocated in the 2023 and 2024 Super 14 rugby tournaments, and extend the audit to other confederation funds.
Clubs contacted on the matter declined to comment.
Daily Dispatch
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