The Limpopo Schools Athletics (LIMSA) secretary said that they had received “a lot of concerns from Vhembe in particular”, following the omission of key athletes of the Vhembe district for the provincial schools athletics meeting in Polokwane at the beginning of March.

Some athletes had been omitted from the list after wrong positioning at the Vhembe district athletics meeting held in Musina on 16 February, and some as a result of maladministration. Athletes of the secondary, as well as primary school in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), were affected. 

Subsequently, these athletes were not permitted to participate in their best items at the LIMSA meeting at the Peter Mokaba stadion and had their dreams shattered of competing at the South African Schools Athletics (SASA) championships.

“Unfortunately, we could not do anything as qualification for the nationals was based on the qualifying standards as set out by SASA. We selected the team based on the qualifying standards,” said Mr Peter Maluleke, secretary of LIMSA per email on 25 March.

Why were the athletes' names omitted? Maluleke said that LIMSA had received team lists from all the districts on 20 February for the placing of athletes according to events. “We [LIMSA] do not take responsibility for any omissions by any district; however, we are able to include athletes in the lane drawings if we are alerted timeously before the championships,” Maluleke said and added that human errors occur all the time. “If an athlete has been omitted on the finals list after qualifying, it is the duty of the team managers to raise their concern speedily and such omissions could easily be rectified.” The athletes, however, found it nearly impossible to have the mistakes reversed.

Maluleke did say that a workshop would be held with the Vhembe district and that they would subsequently recommend all districts to buy and use the JOBA program, which is used by both LIMSA and SASA and is highly reliable, "so that we do not encounter such mistakes in the future.”

Schools definitely have the right to see the district lists before the provincial event, so that they can inform LIMSA of any dissatisfaction.

The correct procedure at district level, as explained by Maluleke, is that the district organisers form a local organising committee (LOC) around the end of January or early February and plan the sequence of meetings. The organiser invites knowledgeable people to assist and they develop the event programme and issue it to schools. They invite qualified and experienced officials to officiate at events. The results are captured and distributed to the three levels - clusters, circuits and schools - for confirmation. The district team list is compiled (with the first three athletes in all events per age group) and distributed to all levels. “Once everyone is satisfied with the team, the district chairperson signs the team list and then submits it to the Limpopo secretariat for lane drawings and placement,” Maluleke said. The Limpopo organisers will then send the reprinted list to the district for confirmation and if there are no indications of omissions, then it is certified to be correct.

The Vhembe athletics chairperson is Mr Milton Munyangane (082 740 6294 or 076 222 7356), and Mr J Nthenzi (076 653 6272) is the secretary.