A number of the Maties Sport clubs, including Maties Climbing, Maties Canoeing and Maties Equestrian, have been in dispute with Maties Sport over their possible closure. This comes after unexpected communications from Maties Sport stating that clubs across campus have been under strategic and governance review for the past three planning years.
On 26 January 2026, Maties Canoeing received an email sent from Reggie Smith, head of sport management at Maties Sport, containing a memorandum stating that a strategic and governance review had been undertaken as part of the comprehensive reviews of the sport clubs on campus. The reviews looked at factors like membership numbers and growth, the balance between recreational and competitive sporting and campus interest, as well as the club’s overall contribution to the strategic goals of the department and its growth, amongst others.
The memorandum concluded that after careful consideration of the review and its findings, Maties Canoeing was to be shut down on 31 January. “We received the email on Monday saying we would be closing on Sunday,” said Maties Canoeing chairman, Conrad Kriel, about the sudden news of the closure.
In a statement made on 25 March by Martin Viljoen, the spokesperson of Stellenbosch University (SU), he confirmed that sports clubs undergo an annual review. Since 2024, the focus of these has been on creating and maintaining sustainable management of SU’s sport codes, and are evaluated through the Maties Sport Strategic Code and Programme Plans (SCAP), Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) and broader institutional mandate. “Flowing from this, sport managers are responsible for engaging their respective sport club executives to ensure that all annual planning is aligned with Maties Sport’s strategic objectives,” he said.
Viljoen further stated that in the light of the annual monitoring, sports clubs should have been aware that they were under review, and that the news of the closures should not have been unexpected. “Over the past two years, the Maties Sport vision, mission, and strategy have been shared with a Student Sport Forum. Regrettably, some clubs decided not to honour the request to attend these meetings,” he said.
Kriel, however, disputed this.“There were no warnings, and they never told us they might be thinking about closing the club. There was no prior communication whatsoever,” he noted. Following the unexpected memorandum, Kriel, with the help of lawyer Naas Fischer, who was also the first ever Maties Canoeing chairperson, decided to follow an internal appeal process and sent a legally drafted letter to Dr Ronel Retief, the Registrar of SU. The letter requested that the decision to close Maties Canoeing be suspended until further notice. On 24 February, the department made the decision to suspend the closure.
An email similar to the one sent to Maties Canoeing was sent out to Maties Climbing, also on 26 January, notifying them of an immediate evacuation and demolition of the Maties Sport indoor climbing facility. The email, sent by Sean Surmon, the director of Maties Sport, stated that due to non-compliance with health and safety regulations, the club was to be closed.
Following the news of the closure, Maties Climbing sent out two petitions on Change.org, the larger of which received 1500 signatures. Jeremy van der Riet, an SU master’s student and the chairperson of Maties Climbing, confirmed that after a meeting with Surmon and other executives, the decision was made to keep Maties Climbing operational for the time being.
According to Van der Riet, Maties Sport has required that certain measures be put in place for the club to keep operating, including access and number regulation for members versus non-members. Van der Riet said no official communication or plans have been given regarding the club’s permanent operational status, but that they are allowed to remain open.
At SU, sports clubs under Maties Sport focus on recreational and competitive sporting, and offer students access to sports facilities, competitions and infrastructure, according to the Maties Sport website. Maties Sport divides sports on campus into three codes: High Performance codes, like rugby, netball and hockey, Recreational and Active Life Style Unit codes, like equestrian and wall climbing, and Competitive Unit codes, like canoeing, fencing and gymnastics.
Sports clubs are dependent on SU for certain support, funding and facilitation, and fall under the jurisdiction of the Maties Sport executives. Unlike campus societies, clubs can be competitive and focus on developing professional sporting careers.
On 18 March 2026, Maties Equestrian also launched a petition against the potential closing and club-status loss, after receiving a similar email about the closure. The petition currently has 1740 signatures, and Maties Sport is aware of it. They added that no final decision has been reached on the closing of Maties Equestrian or Maties Canoeing, and that they are working to improve governance, compliance and strategy within the clubs.
Maties Sport is currently in communication with five sports clubs on the possible closing of the clubs. Two of these clubs are in collaborative conversation with Maties Sport to ensure that specific strategic and governance goals are reached, and one club has decided to operate as a student society rather than a club. The fourth club has not responded nor acknowledged the possible closure. The decision to close the final club has been postponed for the time being, and will be made with governance and executive members. Viljoen has stated that the clubs and the current operational status will remain confidential until decisions about the possible closure have been made.
Both Kriel and Van der Riet confirmed that the uncertainty of the possible closures have been affecting members of the respective clubs. “At first I told just the members of my committee, because I didn’t think it would benefit us to upset and frustrate and anger the rest of my members,” said Kriel. “I only told them about exactly what had happened once Naas sent his first letter to the Registrar.”
Kriel explained that even though Maties Canoeing is open and operational for now, it has been difficult to get a straight answer on the status of the closure from the Maties Sport office. “Naturally it’s difficult, because you’re in a situation where you are going to need to step on some toes, but we just didn’t feel like we were being treated fairly,” said Kriel.
For Van der Riet, there have also been some more positive outcomes to the situation. “[The petition] drew a lot of attention to the club,” he said. He added that in 2026 they are looking to set a record for the most members they have ever had. “It really begs the question why the university deemed it necessary, or wanted to shut us down when we are seeing such growth in our club,” said Van der Riet.
According to Viljoen, sports codes should be considered in the context of campus and the greater field in South Africa. He stated that not all sport codes are sustainable as clubs at a university level, especially when these sports are not being practised on a school level. “SU and Maties Sport remain committed to ensure the best possible outcome for sustainable campus sport and our student athletes,” said Viljoen.