Controversial Danie Malan, Johannesburg’s high-flying sports chief, is set to grab the top job in SA athletics, reports Julian Drew
Next week the controlling body of the sport, Athletics South Africa (ASA), will hold its first election since official unity was achieved more than three troubled and turbulent years ago — and Danie Malan, Johannesburg’s controversy-plagued sports supremo, is a front-runner for the presidency.
The current co-president of ASA, John Ncinane, and the two co-chairmen of ASA Track and Field, Malan and Leonard Chuene, were announced this week as the three nominated candidates for the position.
Malan, one of the most powerful and influential figures in South African sport, has been embroiled in a number of controversies.
Last July the Johannesburg City Council (JCC), where Malan is employed as Director of Sport, ordered an official inquiry into his conduct in handling the World Corporate Games. The charges concerned his decision to appoint a British businessman, David Teasdale, to negotiate the rights to the Games.
A council committee of which Malan was a member then appointed a close corporation named Comodale SA to raise sponsors for the Games without advertising the work. Comodale’s two members were Teasdale and Malan’s wife, Beverley.
When complaints forced councillor Cecil Bass, chairman of the council’s culture and recreation committee, to demand Mrs Malan’s resignation from Comodale SA, she was then appointed as marketing director of World Corporate Games 1994. Malan was one of two directors of this company and again the position was not advertised.
The Games, held in October, were widely regarded as a complete flop. The results of the inquiry were not released, however, until Judge King requested clarification from the council last month in order to clear Malan’s eligibility for the ASA elections. Malan was cleared of all charges, despite the fact that the senior advocate who conducted the investigation said there was a prima facie case against him. The council, after questioning Malan further, decided to exonerate him.
The latest dispute to embroil Malan concerns the construction of a R97-million athletics stadium in Johannesburg, which was rushed through council just before last year’s parliamentary elections. Malan was again the driving force behind this project which, at the beginning, was promoted as part of Johannesburg’s Olympic bid.
It received strong opposition from some members of the bid committee for the way it was handled. There were irregularities in the tender process for the stadium and the latest revelations show the Johannesburg Athletics Association (JAA), which has six directors including Malan, accepted a tender for the athletics track which was higher than that of a competing company. When this was queried the council said that it was unable to interfere as the JAA was completely independent of the council.
‘In my opinion the president of a national sporting body should not have any controversies surrounding him,” said Mike Walters, co-chairman of the ASA cross country commission.
More forthright was Clarie Botha, the senior vice- president of Transvaal Athletics. “If I look at the experiences of Transvaal then I believe unity can only be achieved if there is trust,” Botha said. “I think Leonard Chuene is the only person who has what it takes to achieve unity.
“At every SA Amateur Athletics Union meeting in the last three years of its existence Danie Malan’s name came up. I don’t want always to have to look behind stones when dealing with somebody. I don’t believe there can be unity under Malan,” he says.
“I believe if something is not acceptable then people should not be afraid to say so,” he says.
Before Malan came to Johannesburg in 1991 he was director of the University of Port Elizabeth’s (UPE) sports bureau for 20 years.
Malan was in charge of organising all sports events at UPE. “As the director of the sports bureau he was entitled to appoint outside promotions companies to assist with events,” says Russell Sheppard, former chairman of the Eastern Province Road Running Association (EPRRA).
“He soon started using M&M Promotions (McKenzie and Malan Promotions) and he used them openly,” he says. The Malan in M&M Promotions is his wife Beverley.
Malan was certainly successful in his work, and he was soon organising a string of high profile road races and athletics meetings that had the sponsors queuing up to put their names behind them.
EPRRA was not happy, however, and, according to Sheppard, was never paid its mandatory percentage of race entry fees by Malan.
Responded Malan: “I’m not aware of UPE not fulfilling its commitments (to EPRRA). In fact while I was there UPE contributed tremendously to the development of athletics in the province.”
Petrus Boukes, co-chairman of EP Cross-country Commission and who is still at the sports bureau, having worked under Malan as a sports officer, says: “All I can say after working with him is I will never trust him.” He would not elaborate on his reasons for saying this.
“It is up to the athletics people to decide if he’s the best man for the job. If they are stupid enough to vote for him then that’s their problem,” he said.
Malan says he is puzzled by Boukes’ views and says that it was he who discovered Boukes and got him to the position he occupies today.
Malan also has many fans though and as former Springbok centre Eben Olivier, who also worked with Malan, says: “He was always very loyal to his colleagues and his staff. He did such a lot for sport in Eastern Province, he really put it on the map.” Indeed as somebody who worked closely with Malan in his early days said, “He really is a very dynamic and hard working individual who has a lot to offer athletics. Its just a pity there is always this big question mark hanging over him.”