The Athletics South Africa board is likely to be scrapped altogether as members embroiled in the Caster Semenya saga continue to defy an order for their suspension.
The battle has left a number of top local athletes, who depend on prize money, anxious.
Late last week, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) decided to suspend the entire board of ASA pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.
The board refused to heed the call and, led by ASA chairman Leonard Chuene, have reportedly been arriving for duty this week at the ASA offices in Houghton, Joburg.
"Their lawyers said that if we send in an administrator, they will interdict us. So we thought that maybe we should get rid of ASA altogether," said a clearly peeved Sascoc chairman Gideon Sam.
They were waiting for a recommendation from the International Association of Athletics Federation before moving ahead with the removal of the entire ASA board.
Meanwhile, Sascoc board member and former Cricket SA president Ray Mali has been appointed as administrator of ASA and mandated to form a board comprising members from the athletics board.
The interim ASA board would in turn constitute a disciplinary body to look into the handling of the Semenya issue and allegations of mismanagement.
The debacle surrounding ASA has split South African athletics, with four provincial bodies threatening legal action against their board if they fail to resign.
In a further twist, an SMS was allegedly circulated by ASA general manager Molatelo Malehopo in which he encourages provincial unions to stand by ASA and reject the "legally bankrupt" Sascoc's suspension.
"ASA has a constitution that cannot be overridden by Sascoc, who have an insatiable quest to remove Chuene because of his contribution to transformation of sport in this country. Sascoc is not a transformed structure, who want to use the Caster issue to purge the ASA leadership without due process," the message read.
Malehopo would not comment.
He and Chuene were singled out as having known about the sex tests carried out in South Africa before Semenya competed at the World Championships in Berlin In August.
In the meantime, athletes continue to come forward claiming money owed to them by ASA, the most prominent being world champion marathon runner Hendrick Ramaala.
"It's frustrating because you plan for the money. Many of the other guys don't have sponsorship and don't have other sources of income. If you don't pay them on time they can't eat. Some of the guys are borrowing money to make ends meet," said Ramaala, who is South Africa's marathon record holder and has won the New York Marathon twice.
He said attempts to contact ASA were fruitless, with people in the finance department telling him they were still waiting for cheques - although sponsor Nedbank confirmed they had released the money months before.