Parents of stranded SA team players in Zimbabwe demand accountability from Chess SA

On Saturday 6 December 2025, 76 South Africans were boarding their flights to Harare, Zimbabwe, to take part in the prestigious African Youth Chess Championship.

However, concern and uncertainty had already been building in the weeks leading up to the tournament after parents tried and failed to receive communication from Chess South Africa (Chess SA) about confirmation of accommodation. Low and behold, upon arriving, not one South African participant and parent was allowed to check in, as the hotel — Cresta Lodge — had not yet received payment from Chess SA.

Children as young as eight and their parents were left stranded and having to fend for themselves that night. While some managed to book accommodation elsewhere, others found themselves on the couches of the hotel sans any food to eat.

“It was dismal,” one parent said. “You shouldn’t treat kids like that.” This parent – who will now be referred to as Parent A after requesting anonymity out of fear of repercussions against their child – ended up forking out an extra R5,000 to book a place elsewhere on Saturday.

Shuffled around

The African Youth Chess Championship is a prestigious tournament for junior chess players aged from as young as eight to 18 years old. The tournament, which started on 6 December, is taking place in Harare and has attracted more than 450 young minds from 17 African countries, to compete in a week-long showcase of strategic ability.

However, South African participants’ experiences have been marred by a lack of co-ordination and communication in the background.

Seeing the chaos unfold as she was on a much later flight, another parent – hereby called Parent B after also requesting anonymity for the same reason – made alternative sleeping arrangements for her and her child on Saturday night, booking their own shuttle.

After landing and being picked up by their transportation, she asked to stop by Cresta Lodge before heading to their other accommodation on the off chance they would be provided their room.

They subsequently waited at the hotel for two hours before being told there were no rooms available. This while some parents and kids had been there since the morning, only to hear that same unwelcome statement: there were no rooms for them.

The following day, the day the tournament officially started, some parents sprang into action and began organising places for everyone to sleep, said Parent A.

Hotels within the Cresta hospitality group, including Cresta Jameson and Cresta Lodge, began accepting guests for only one night at a time where people could be booked in at 10pm, but were told to vacate by 8am. On Monday, the same thing happened.

“So, Monday they have to be out of the room, go play a game, go nowhere because you don’t have anywhere to go, and then play another game in the evening,” said Parent B. “You can't settle; you can’t prepare for any games.”

This was especially true for the kids whose parents could not attend the tournament. Every night until Tuesday they were shuffled from one hotel to the next. Some only got to their rooms by midnight, said Parent B. Being moved from one hotel to another every night was highly disruptive for children competing in such an esteemed tournament. The late check-ins, unsettled routines and lack rest could affect their focus and ability to perform at their best.

However, when Daily Maverick contacted Cresta Lodge for comment, the duty manager (who did not reveal her name) denied that they had turned people away and that anyone slept on couches at the hotel. She then refused to comment any further on the matter.

A careful castling

According to the president of Chess SA, Andre Lewaks, the reason for the delay in payment was because the Zimbabwe Chess Federation had not issued an invoice to Chess SA and therefore Chess SA could not make the payment until it had an invoice.

“When it comes to international tournaments, the responsibility of a federation, obviously, is to pay the accommodation, etc. But the allocation of the accommodation [is decided by] the host nations,” said Lewaks. “In terms of good governance we cannot just do a transfer, and there is no invoice with the specifics in terms of how much needs to be paid.”

Initially, the deadline for payment was 15 November, which was subsequently extended to 25 November. Payment for accommodation was only made on 5 December.

How regularly Chess SA tried to contact the Zimbabwe Chess Federation for an invoice at that time remains unclear.

Lewaks claims that Chess SA finally received the invoice from the federation late on Thursday night. A payment of R250,000 was then made directly to the lodge on Friday morning, and then another of R750,000. On Saturday, a final R1-million was paid to Cresta Lodge for accommodation.

Daily Maverick is in possession of the three bank statements proving the payments were made.

Instead of transferring the money into a Zimbabwean account, Chess SA was requested by the lodge to transfer the money into a South African bank account due to difficulties with the Zimbabwean currency and to avoid any delays, said Lewaks.

In an email sent out to parents, he states: “After we informed [Cresta Lodge] that the money would be cleared in about seven days, they told us they could not accept this and provided us with a South African bank account.”

In the email, Lewaks states that Chess SA then had to reverse the payment.

“I'm not happy with what has transpired there,” said Lewaks in a phone call with Daily Maverick. “[But] it is not true that we haven’t actually fulfilled our duties.”

Parent A called the email “disingenuous”.

“From before 25 November, we were outright begging for confirmation that the hotels were sorted, and our kids were safe to travel. All we got was silence. Only when things went out of control did we find out this had happened.”

After being told that parents were indignant over the lack of communication, Lewaks claimed he had not heard any complaints, which is interesting considering he received a formal complaint in October regarding poor coordination and communication.

A preventable situation

Concerns over unprofessional and disorganised conduct from the leadership surfaced as early as October, particularly surrounding the vice-president of Chess SA, Vicky Magu, who oversees the youth delegation.

On 22 October, Parent B sent an email to Chess SA in which they expressed concern about the allegedly inefficient preparations and radio silence from Magu regarding the African Youth Chess Championship.

In phone correspondence with Daily Maverick, Parent B said that when Magu did reply it was often “sarcastic” or “snarky”. At times, if either of the two requested flight details or passport photos, for example, parents would send them in, but then they would request them again. This happened multiple times as Magu claimed they had not received them.

Parent B did not receive any response after her complaint.

On 26 October, Parent B’s partner then laid a formal complaint with the president of Tshwane Chess – who then forwarded it directly to Lewaks and Magu – over the lack of support, but still did not receive a reply.

“If they just started looking into things and acting on our concerns and just bothering to respond, this could have all been prevented,” said Parent B.

According to Magu, when parents asked about accommodation, he did respond to messages and when he was without information, he claims to have informed the parents of this as well.

Magu claims that some parents have been quite “malicious” towards Chess SA without understanding the repercussions.

“Chess SA could get suspended and their children would suffer,” he said. “We are trying to resolve the issue and it’s not just us. The Zimbabwean Chess Federation is going to come under fire, so is the ACC (African Chess Confederation). It’s a ripple effect right to the top and it’s going to impact on everybody’s chess [and] everybody's kids.”

While Magu does not recall receiving this complaint, he does recall himself and the president having a meeting with a parent who complained that the team manager was not responding to messages.

“Parents can get very nasty,” he said standing by his response that he would indeed respond to messages, especially if the manager was not able to.

Daily Maverick emailed questions to the Zimbabwe Chess Federation and also called the organisation. Daily Maverick was instructed to Whatsapp questions, which was done. There has been no response.

Calls for accountability

By Tuesday, once payments had been cleared, everyone had finally settled into some sort of guest house or hotel, albeit scattered across Harare.

Lewaks arrived in Zimbabwe on Thursday night in hopes of speaking to the parents and Zimbabwe Chess Federation on Friday.

But for many, it was too late.

After feeling abandoned by the federation and its leadership, they are calling for “fresh leadership”.

“A lot of us feel like it’s time for change,” said Parent B. “It can’t keep going on like this, and this can’t happen again.”

“I hope they get fired,” said Parent A. “They failed in their duty of care to the children.” DM