Watch – Swimming SA to pay Tatjana Smith interest, faces scrutiny over kit’s deal

Swimming South Africa withheld prize money owed to Tatjana Smith for over a year after her historic gold and silver medals at the 2023 World Championships, and allegedly failed to pay interest accrued during that delay. The federation has now agreed to pay the outstanding interest in full, following a letter of demand from Smith's attorney. The dispute has also drawn scrutiny to the federation's kit sponsorship rules and its handling of an information request over its contract with swimwear brand Arena.

Reporting by: Annemieke Thomaidis Filmed by: Joel Seboa Edited by: Joel Seboa Produced by: Emilie Gambade Creative input by: Malibongwe Tyilo Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

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At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, legendary South African swimmer Tatjana Smith made history by becoming the first South African woman to win a World Championship gold medal.

She won the 200m breaststroke title and also claimed silver in the 100m breaststroke.

And yet: according to her attorney, she never saw a cent of it for more than a year.

When Tatjana Smith did eventually receive the money from Swimming South Africa, the interest that had built up while the funds were being held was allegedly not paid over.

Now she has issued the national federation with a letter of demand seeking payment of that interest.

Attorney Wian Spies, acting for Smith and her husband Joel, has since confirmed that Swimming South Africa has agreed to pay the full amount of interest claimed.

Swimming South Africa operations manager Mafata Modutoane is alleged to have retained the interest - something he denied in a message to our colleagues at Rapport.

While he declined to discuss the details of the settlement, saying the discussions took place on a without-prejudice basis, Spies said there was an agreement that the outstanding interest would be paid in full.

A day before the letter of demand was sent, World Aquatics’ independent Aquatics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended Swimming South Africa’s president Alan Fritz and chief executive Shaun Adriaanse over alleged breaches of the World Aquatics Integrity Code.

The story begins in July 2023 at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan.

For winning gold in the 200m breaststroke, Smith was due to receive $20,000 in prize money. Her silver medal in the 100m breaststroke earned her a further $15,000.