Swimming SA Knew Tatjana Smith Was Leaving, Kept Quiet

Swimming South Africa confirmed this week it had long known that Tatjana Smith planned to leave the country and compete under another flag. Acting CEO Zikie Molusi said the federation was aware of her intentions but, out of respect for her privacy and because of confidentiality, could say nothing until she made her own announcement herself.

Smith did so in a tearful video, revealing she would swim for the Netherlands. She holds both South African and Dutch citizenship through her father.

The switch is governed by international sporting regulations imposing a three-year “cooling-off” period before an athlete may change allegiance. Smith last represented South Africa at the Paris Olympics in 2024, winning gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke. On her return from the Games, she announced her retirement from the sport.

Her pathway since then has been uneven. She skipped the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July this year, came out of retirement in September, and then announced her change of allegiance.

Meanwhile, the loss of the country’s most decorated active swimmer lands on an organisation already struggling to deliver on its core functions. In 2023, Smith was involved in a legal dispute with Swimming South Africa over $35,000 (R578,000) in prize money from the World Aquatic Championships. The money was eventually paid, but a year late, and only after media scrutiny and public outcry.

The federation’s administrative record extends well beyond that single payment. In August, World Aquatics provisionally suspended Swimming South Africa president Alan Fritz and Chief Executive Officer Shaun Adriaanse. The suspensions relate to potential violations of the World Aquatics Integrity Code, including abuse of power and the provision of false information and fake documents. Fritz has served on the organisation’s executive since 2004; Adriaanse has been chief executive for more than 20 years.

The most visible symbol of the delivery problems sits in Franschhoek, where a high-performance training centre was meant to be built and never was. The project received more than R50 million from World Aquatics, the National Lotteries Commission and the Sports Trust, but stalled and became a vandalised site with sewage-filled pools. The Special Investigative Unit is now investigating the corrupt allocation and abandonment of the centre.

By contrast with an athlete whose next step is settled, the institution she leaves behind is not. The picture is of a governing body whose basic functions, from paying athletes on time to completing facilities, have repeatedly broken down. Molusi’s acknowledgment adds a further layer to the timeline: the federation knew its top swimmer was heading overseas while simultaneously managing suspensions at the top of its own leadership and a stalled, vandalised infrastructure project under investigation.

Whether the cooling-off period ends with Smith swimming for the Netherlands is now settled in her own words. What remains unresolved is the state of the federation itself: a leadership under provisional suspension, a prize money dispute that required public pressure to resolve, and a multi-million rand training centre that exists only as a failed construction site. As the SIU investigation continues, the questions raised by the Franschhoek centre and the leadership suspensions remain open, and it is those that will determine whether South African swimming can actually deliver for its athletes and its facilities.