It is time for a "family meeting" in Abuja, but this time there is the IOC President, some anonymous emails, and a whole lot of still unanswered questions
ANOCA will open its headquarters this week, and African Olympic leaders are calling for a meeting to speak about the ongoing scandals
A convergence of actors will descend on Abuja, Nigeria this week to open the new headquarters of the Association of National Olympic Committees from Africa (ANOCA), as the body faces a leadership crisis.
Olympics Everywhere has already reported on the ongoing rift among leaders of African National Olympic Committees and how an anonymous source continues to release information damaging to ANOCA’s President Mustapha Berraf. If you have not read this post to understand the current situation in ANOCA please do so before reading this one.
However, the story did not end there, as more allegations have been passed around leading to chatter and calls for talks as the headquarters opening looms.
Olympics Everywhere attempted to send a number of questions to the first anonymous source to understand the motivations behind the campaign to get a General Assembly to deliberate a “vote of no confidence” document. However, despite repeated followups, the anonymous email address did not return our questions.
In the meantime, a second email address has sprung up sharing serious allegations with African sport leadership. Unlike past emails, Olympics Everywhere is not reporting on the details of these allegations as they have not been independently verified, yet. However messages passed to Olympics Everywhere by a source show that the contents of these allegations are not new to African administrators. No leaders that had seen allegations before the the latest anonymous emails returned requests for comment by press time despite repeated attempts.
In light all of this, Ben Mensah the President of the NOC of Ghana has written a letter to the rest of NOC leadership around the continent calling for leaders to “take advantage of this unique opportunity to iron out all of our family issues…where we can get things off our chest and where necessary, relevant explanations and apologies are rendered, genuine commitments are made not to repeat those mistakes again, we shake hands, hug ourselves, put the past behind us and give ourselves a fresh start and a new lease of life with the opening of our Headquarters the next day”.
In the letter Mensah also references the fact that it is not prudent for ANOCA’s dirty laundry to be aired in public, and that those who lead organizations must remember that they are the public face of those organizations and when scandals arise they must take responsibility or step aside while they are investigated.
Speaking to Olympics Everywhere, Mensah said he has gotten “a lot” of calls from fellow NOC Presidents about his letter, and he expects that leadership will “own” some of the mistakes that are out there. The current situation is not enough to call an Extraordinary Congress, where things may not be aired “frankly,” which is the most important thing ANOCA must do in this moment.
“I thought it would be a much better way to solve the current problems in ANOCA, rather than people hiding behind emails and then putting information out there,” Mensah said.
“I don’t believe the other bodies out there like the European Olympic Committees and all the other ones don’t have problems that we do. Maybe they don’t have them on the scale we do, but it is how you handle them that is what shows how good or bad an organization is.”
During this ongoing saga, Berraf has been visiting different countries in Africa with IOC President Thomas Bach. So far the pair have visited Cape Verde and Senegal. Bach is expected to go to Nigeria for the opening of ANOCA headquarters, and Cameroon. Bach will be on the continent until the 17th.
Berraf was appointed a member of the IOC in 2018 on the basis of his presidency of the Algerian Olympic Committee. Should that change he will lose his IOC position. His standing as ANOCA President will not affect his IOC membership.
Mensah said that “it would be very unwise to think that at any given time the IOC President does not know the issues that all the continental bodies have,” when asked if he thought the timing of the scandals is exacerbated by Bach’s visit.
“He is a very smart person and will know all the problems, so for me it is something he probably would have known, but I don’t believe that at any given time the IOC would not be aware of any of the problems of the continental bodies,” Mensah said.
“So I personally believe it is probably not going to be news to him, he probably have tried, not openly and I would know, to solve problems that come up, but he is not going to come out and say this was important to me and I tried solving it. He will probably try and let the bodies themselves solve its own problems rather than the IOC solving continental problems.”
An IOC spokesperson told Olympics Everywhere that the IOC is in “constant contact” with ANOCA, and this visit is no different.
”When we are in Nigeria all the NOCs from ANOCA will be present and we will continue with our ongoing dialogue,” the spokesperson added.
One high ranking African sport official told Olympics Everywhere that they believed “the probability of Berraf being asked to step aside will be highly likely” in Abuja.
The official cautioned that this was not a guarantee and that this would happen, but “if there will be a selected number of NOCs for the family discussion, it would be the predominant opinion that the President, Secretary General and Treasurer step aside for an audit”.
New Documents Create More Financial Questions
A letter obtained by Olympics Everywhere from the IOC to Berraf shows the ANOCA President requested Olympic Solidarity funds to help pay for legal fees in the ongoing “Africa Village” lawsuit. This lawsuit stems from the 2012 Olympics in London and has been in appeals court for years.
The letter states that the IOC was denying the request for USD $25,000 to be used for legal fees for the case.
“While we understand your needs, we cannot create a precedent by supporting the lawsuits of our continental associations,” James MacLeod, Director of Olympic Solidarity at the IOC, writes.
An IOC spokesperson told Olympics Everywhere that “this is not and has never been an IOC matter,” when asked to confirm the contents of the letter.
Mustapha Berraf told Olympics Everywhere that the letter was “not a refusal, but a budget item,” and reiterated the support Africa has from IOC leadership. It is unclear if this was the only request made by Berraf for Olympic Solidarity funds to be used for ANOCA.
“We have obtained the necessary financial support for the development of our headquarters. It is implausible to imagine such things. Relations with the IOC are very good and exchanges very fruitful,” Berraf said to Olympics Everywhere.
“The President of the IOC is very close to the African continent and it is under his leadership that recently 5 members have entered the IOC and Africa is organizing for the first time the Youth Olympic Games. This is also where we find with a strong delegation. Good night.”