Athletics South Africa has removed James Moloi as president and as a member of its board with immediate effect, after an independent disciplinary panel found him guilty of misusing the federation’s corporate credit card across 399 transactions in 12 months.
Those transactions ran from May 2023 to April 2024 and came to more than R300 000 on a card carrying a monthly limit of R15 000, according to the forensic review carried out by Forvis Mazars Forensic Services.
The federation announced on Monday that Jean Verster, its track and field chairperson, is acting president until the council meets on 28 November.
Moloi’s removal is only the first item on a longer list. World Athletics has given Athletics South Africa six months to adopt a new constitution, and the penalty for missing that deadline is a provisional suspension that would stop South African athletes entering international competition under the national flag.
The Panel That Found James Moloi Guilty
The panel was chaired by retired Judge President Basheer Waglay and included Nellie Tiyago, nominated by the Confederation of African Athletics, and Valentine Bushelo, nominated by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee. Its report, dated 6 October and running to 55 pages, was unanimous.
Moloi faced four charges and was found guilty on two. The first was unauthorised use of federation assets through the corporate card for personal or unsubstantiated spending. The second was taking a dual benefit by using the card in April 2024 while drawing a new R18 000 monthly presidential allowance.
He was cleared on the other two. The panel found there was no approved credit card policy he could have failed to account under, and that the federation’s own finance staff authorised top-ups whenever the card was declined.
Daily Maverick reported the panel’s finding that Moloi had treated the federation’s card as “his own personal slush card”. The panel also described his conduct as serious and lacking in substantiation and candour.
Moloi denied all the charges and maintained that the transactions were business-related. These are internal disciplinary findings, not a criminal conviction.
“What a disgrace!” – 🎙️Jay
What The Forensic Review Found On The Athletics South Africa Card
The review was commissioned by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee after the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture raised concerns, and the report was delivered on 11 September 2025.
- The monthly limit exceeded in nine of the 12 months examined, including R73 656 in May 2023
- R24 841.95 spent on the card in April 2024, the same month the R18 000 presidential allowance began
- Roughly R25 000 reimbursed by Moloi after an earlier disciplinary process was discontinued on technical grounds
The spending the panel examined included cash advances, liquor purchases, clothing, an electronic device, fuel, tyres and a vehicle service, groceries, meals and personal fitness equipment.
Moloi, 59, was elected president in 2021 and re-elected in May 2025 for a term that was meant to run to 2029. He led Central Gauteng Athletics for eight years before that. The board suspended him in October 2025.
Six Months, Then Fresh Elections
World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon wrote to the federation from Monaco on 15 October, directing it to carry out the recommended removal immediately and setting out a reform timetable.
Business Day reported the terms. A detailed timetable goes to World Athletics and the Confederation of African Athletics within one month, a revised constitution must be formally adopted within six months, and fresh elections must follow within a further three months under that new constitution.
The constitution has to make the council the supreme decision-making body, eliminate double voting and provincial conflicts of interest, and bring in independent electoral and oversight mechanisms, term limits, and gender and athlete representation. A draft already produced by the federation was assessed as not yet meeting those principles.
Miss the deadline, or obstruct the process, and the matter is referred to the World Athletics Council under Article 13. That is the route to a provisional suspension of the federation’s international membership, which in plain terms means South African athletes could not compete under their own flag abroad.
The letter followed a fact-finding mission by Zakhele Dlamini, president of the Southern African Confederation of Athletics, on 2 and 3 September. He identified divisions within the executive board, difficulty taking collective decisions, uncertainty over the authority of elected officials and the validity of their decisions, and conflicts of interest where officials hold national and provincial roles at the same time.
Those were assessed as structural weaknesses requiring a comprehensive fix, not isolated incidents. Dlamini has been appointed independent observer to oversee the reform process and report back regularly.
Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has said he lobbied World Athletics for firm action, including at a meeting in Budapest on 13 September, and that government supports the roadmap in full.
Verster In Charge Until 28 November
Vice-president John Mathane had been acting president since Moloi’s suspension. At the board meeting on 30 October he took part briefly and then left of his own accord, and Dlamini directed the remaining board members to appoint an acting president from among themselves.
The board agreed unanimously on Verster, who accepted. TimesLIVE reported that the appointment runs until the council meeting on 28 November, which will consider the interim leadership arrangement.
The federation has also paused its search for a permanent chief executive until the new constitution and structures are in place. Terrence Magogodela has been acting in that job since December 2020, and it was his letter that notified council members the board had resolved to remove Moloi.
A strategic planning meeting is set for 13 to 15 November, with Dlamini assisting.
