SASCOC vice-president Barry Hendricks claims the body would be willing to "dissolve the Board" following an investigation into alleged misconduct ©SASCOC

Vice-president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) Barry Hendricks has claimed the body is open to drastic changes if they are necessary to improve how the organisation is run.

His claim comes after the country’s Sports Ministry ordered an investigation into misconduct allegations, including maladministration and financial irregularities.

"If push comes to shove and we need to dissolve the board and start from over, I don’t think any of us would mind that process," Hendricks told Eyewitness News.

It follows Sports Minister Tokozile Xasa’s announcement that "heads would roll" if that was necessary.

Three weeks of hearings investigating the allegations were held March, led by retired judge Ralph Zulman.

A report was then complied, which reportedly criticises SASCOC President Gideon Sam’s "dictatorial style of leadership", as well as alleged wasteful expenditure of Board members, though its full contents has not yet been made public.

SASCOC were told of the report’s conclusions late last month and they reportedly met with lawyers on Sunday (October 14) to discuss their response.

A Government report allegedly criticises SASCOC President Gideon Sam for running the body
A Government report allegedly criticises SASCOC President Gideon Sam for running the body "like a dictatorship" ©Getty Images

Initially they were given 14 days to respond but that was extended by Xasa.

"We asked for the extension, we asked the Minister to extend it," Hendricks reportedly said.

"We have a group of people sitting together to polish the response and that goes to the board members for ratification and then to the [Sports] Minister."

Having read over the completed report, Hendricks claimed some of the recommendations have already been implemented at the organisations.

"A lot of the stuff that the report does recommend we've already implemented, such as the structural change, the review of policies and looking at how we can bring in independent people," he said.

"So, all of those things have started already."

Hendricks did admit, however, that there are some elements of the report they will challenge.

"There are some that will stand, especially the governance issues and there's some that we need to chat to the minister about, especially issues of restructuring the organisation because there's a lot of other factors," he told Eyewitness News.

The report is likely to be released in full either at the end of this month or at the beginning of November.