ASA won't boycott parliament

2008-07-22 12:37

Johannesburg - Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced on Tuesday it wishes to distance itself from the statement issued by Sascoc on Saturday, cutting ties with Parliament.

ASA believes the decision to boycott the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Sport and Recreation (the Portfolio Committee) amounts to a decision to boycott the government.

ASA's delegation abstained and expressed their objection when the resolution was mooted at the Sascoc AGM, one reason being that issue caught the ASA delegation by surprise and, therefore, they could not take such a decision without a mandate from ASA.

Another reason was that the ASA delegation did not wish to be seen to be unnecessarily confrontational and counter-productive in the meeting.

"We think that the decision to boycott the Portfolio Committee is unfortunate, and was taken without adherence to procedure and with undesirable haste," said Leonard Chuene, President of ASA, in their statement.

"In this regard, ASA wishes to express its board's directive to distance the federation from Sascoc's Government Boycott, and to further state categorically as we hereby do, that we are not about to abandon our democratic dispensation processes, and create new rules and laws of engaging with our government," concluded the statement.

- SAPA