The provincial department of sport has opted to channel funds for the Eastern Cape Super 14 rugby tournament through a new middleman, with their former agent, the Eastern Cape Sports Confederation, being probed for alleged maladministration.
The department said it had been waiting for a nod from the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) to complete a look into its affiliate, the ECSC, before passing on the necessary funds for the popular provincial tournament.
An amount of R1.1m is budgeted for the Super 14.
To ensure that the competition goes ahead next weekend, it has been decided that the Eastern Cape Academy of Sport will handle the funds for the Super 14 instead of the ECSC.
The ECSC is responsible for overseeing provincial sports federations, distributing development funds, and coordinating high-performance initiatives in the province.
EC department of sport spokesperson Andile Nduna said the department had explored rerouting the funds to an alternative, appropriate institution as an interim measure, in full compliance with applicable financial prescripts.
This was also to ensure that rugby and other sports bodies in the province are not negatively affected and programmes continue without interruption.
Super 14 steering committee chair and Border Rugby Union general manager Mthunzi Hewu told the Dispatch on Thursday the competition was going to continue with its launch on Friday.
“We are waiting for the money to reflect. It has been sent through,” Hewu said.
The provincial rugby tournament features the top clubs from Border and Eastern Province and was curated by the ECSC with funding from the provincial department of sport.
But officials from Sascoc and the provincial department of sports met to establish an intervention after evidence came to light of alleged maladministration.
The Dispatch reported last year that an internal investigation found that more than R204,000 intended for the tournament was allegedly misused.
A report listed payments by the confederation for meals, fuel and other items, some of which were without documentation.
The report was prepared by the task team appointed in 2024.
It came after the Eastern Cape Rugby Union (Border and EP combined) 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 meeting took place at the invitation of the department, requesting Sascoc to come to the province and intervene on governance and administrative challenges within the Eastern Cape Sports Confederation (ECSC),” Nduna said.
“The purpose of the intervention is to stabilise the organisation and ensure compliance with governance requirements.
“Once these challenges have been adequately addressed and resolved, the department will be in a position to transfer funds to the ECSC, in line with applicable prescripts,” Nduna said.
It is believed that Sascoc were supposed to get back to the provincial department of sports in January with solutions and courses of action.
But that has not happened.
Sascoc spokesperson Bronson Mokabela said he had sent the publication’s inquiries to his colleagues who have been engaging with the ECSC on the matter to provide guidance.
“There are engagements still happening internally post the Eastern Cape visit by the Sascoc team,” Mokabela said.
The 2026 edition of the Super 14 was supposed to start on February 7 but EP and Border were told by the steering committee earlier in the week that the start of the tournament had been postponed to February 14.
The Eastern Cape Super 14 has run annually since 2009 and Border and EP use it to scout promising talent for their senior men’s teams.
It is one of the few paying tournaments in club rugby in the province.
But the cross-border tournament has been mired in controversy in recent seasons after non-payment of match fees, which led to unhappiness among clubs.
Club rugby teams were left scrambling to cover their own travel and accommodation costs and prize money, while some were drowning in debt in 2023 and 2024.
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