Athletics South Africa (ASA) quickly rectified an error that could have cost South African athletes dearly, after the organisation was delisted from the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) earlier this year.
This was brought to light during a Parliamentary session before the portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture. Liam Jacobs, a DA member on the committee, probed ASA representatives on Tuesday, which included acting CEO Terrence Magogodela, president James Moloi and Mpoase Shembeni, the administration's financial accountant, regarding the oversight
In the video — with Jacobs interacting with Magogodela — the committee stated that ASA had been deregistered from the CIPC, thus putting the lives of South African athletes, and their participation locally and internationally, in jeopardy.
The CIPC serves as the database for all South African companies.
On Wednesday, however, the department of sports' spokesperson, Charles Cilliers, revealed that the matter had been swiftly attended to.
"We are advised that the matter has been resolved," Cilliers said.
Athletics SA LOST their CIPC Registration in February 2025 - meaning that they were deregistered by CIPC.
— Liam Jacobs MP (@LiamJacobsZA) April 1, 2025
This was due to failing to submit several annual financial reports.
What would that mean for the Federation?
1. It would lose its legal persona.
2. It can no longer enter… pic.twitter.com/Sm9ixm3ZoL
According to Government Gazette Publication 2025-299, ASA were officially deregistered on February 5 this year. In the notice of deregistration, the CIPC stated that ASA’s membership was terminated due to the contravention of Section 82(3) of the Companies Act of 2008 – which indicates a failure to file annual returns for two or more years, and provide satisfactory reasons for that failure.
That now seems to have been rectified.
On Tuesday, while in Parliament, the ASA delegation could not provide any answers as to how they had not updated the compliance information and stated that the task had been outsourced to an auditing firm. ASA also could not explain why there had been no oversight of the auditing firm.
“Eish,” was the response given by Magogodela in Parliament on Tuesday.
Magogodela explained ASA had been busy dealing with tax matters at the time and could not entirely pin down how they had missed the deadline with the CIPC.
What exactly does deregistration mean for ASA?
According to Jacobs, the deregistration of ASA will affect both the association and the athletes that compete under their banner.
“Funding for athletics would be slashed by over 80%,” Jacobs said.
"Fewer events would be able to take place. Athlete development would stagnate. We would not be sending a high number of athletes to the Olympics
Regarding the name “Athletics South Africa”, deregistration means they can no longer enter into marketing or broadcasting contracts, and can no longer be funded by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
How does the CIPC system work?
Independent Media spoke to an anonymous source, who works closely with the CIPC on a daily basis. The source is a professional in the accounting field.
The source explained that the CIPC have recently updated their regulations and have become “more lenient over the years”.
“It used to be that you had to pay every year, but now they allow a company to fall behind on payments for up to two or three years,” the source told Independent Media, adding that reinstatement is possible.
"The CIPC requires you to submit an annual return to stay updated on their system. If you fail to pay for over two years, they issue a 21-day notice stating that you are pending deregistration.
After that, they will issue you with a final notice saying that you have officially been taken off their system," he concluded.