Race to infamy — Comrades Marathon Association plagued by internal spats, claims of corruption and racism

Left: Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) interim chairperson Jeff Minnaar.Photo: Nqubeko Mbhele

By Yanga Sibembe and Stuart Mann

1 Sep 2024

The association has been plagued by resignations, allegations of racism and accusations of corruption and mismanaging assets.

Another day, another dysfunctional South African sports entity engulfed by allegations of maladministration, internal spats and power plays.

This time it is the turn of the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) to stand under the spotlight.

Before the turmoil the CMA finds itself in, which includes being steered by an interim board after recent mass resignations, all seemed to be harmonious at its headquarters – at least from an external observer’s point of view.

Eyebrows were raised, however, when Comrades Marathon race and operations manager Ann Ashworth was shown the door a few days before her contract was due to expire on 30 June. Ashworth was appointed in November 2023 on an interim basis and is a former Comrades winner, having sprinted to victory in 2018.

In a social media post she shared one day before the CMA publicly confirmed her departure, Ashworth hinted that she had been forced out of the organisation, despite being offered a three-month contract extension to her interim role.

Ashworth’s departure came just days after a racist WhatsApp message sent by one of the CMA’s board members, Zinhle Sokhela, made its way to wider social media. In the text, she accused Ashworth of trying to return the CMA to the apartheid era by recruiting white volunteers. The CMA was quick to point out that Ashworth’s departure was not linked to Sokhela’s saga.

Initially, the board did not suspend Sokhela, saying that “the constitution of the CMA does not empower them to remove a board member”. However, a suspension was subsequently enacted after members pointed out the clause in the CMA constitution that allows for this.

Sokhela has since stepped down from the board and was handed a lifetime ban from the CMA after an urgent special general meeting in Pietermaritzburg on 15 August.

Special meeting

The special general meeting took place soon after an urgent court application by more than 100 CMA members as a result of KZN Athletics issuing a decree that CMA members outside KwaZulu-Natal could not speak or vote at the meeting – for the first time in the CMA’s history.

The reasoning from KZN Athletics and the CMA was that the latter is a special member of the former, whose membership is strictly restricted to clubs in the province. It is worth noting that, because of this special relationship between the two bodies, KZN Athletics president Steve Mkasi is an automatic board member at CMA.

This is despite a high court ruling in 2022 involving Russian runner Alexandra Morozova that concluded that the CMA is independent and does not fall under the legal authority of Athletics South Africa (ASA). As such, it would also not fall under KZN Athletics, which is a subsidiary of ASA.

In addition, even if KZN Athletics’ “locals only” resolution was followed, many of the members, including a large proportion of the board, are not licensed club runners under KZN Athletics.

The court granted the interdict in favour of the members and they were able to participate in the special general meeting in which Sokhela was banned. Isaac Ngwenya, another board member accused of racism (among other alleged transgressions), survived being ousted from the board during the meeting as his matter did not reach the voting stage.

Comrades Marathon Association interim chairperson Jeff Minnaar (left). (Photo: Nqubeko Mbhele)

Inner cliques

Ngwenya, Sokhela, Celi Makhoba and Phumlani Ntuli were said to be part of an inner clique in the CMA that was gunning for power ahead of the November 2024 annual general meeting (AGM).

Ntuli has since resigned from his position on the board. CMA chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo and his deputy, Leslie Burnard, plus one other board member, Kerwin Basson, have also walked away from the CMA in recent days.

However, Ngwenya is adamant that he is not going anywhere, as he was “elected by the people”. He remains part of a board that will be led temporarily by Jeff Minnaar, who has worked in various positions at the CMA in the past. Minnaar will be assisted by Peter Proctor until new leaders are elected at the AGM later this year.

During a recent press briefing, Minnaar said he and the remaining board members would try to stabilise the CMA before they make way for the new board.

“Cooperation among board members is essential. The board should avoid having what one might term ‘parking lot assassins’ – in other words, people who prioritise their self-interest over the interests of the Comrades Marathon,” Minnaar told journalists.

“This must be eliminated. When you sit in a board meeting and make decisions, you must do so for the benefit of the Comrades, not your friends,” he added.

Insiders have accused Ngwenya of being a serial kleptomaniac – from swiping cold drinks from the CMA fridges to allegedly stealing crockery and, most importantly, buying votes via the community marshals portfolio, which Ngwenya heads.

It is alleged that, over the past few years, some members of the board have exploited the system of community marshals from impoverished communities, who are there to ensure the safety of runners during the annual race, by buying bulk “community marshal” CMA memberships, busing them in and instructing them to vote for specific individuals during the AGMs. CMA membership costs R100 per year and is open to all runners and volunteers of the race.

A source in the Comrades structures specifically names 2016 as the first year in which the bulk buying of CMA memberships and busing-in of voters began. A CMA membership committee document acknowledges this: “Ever since then our community marshals have prevailed as the most powerful voting block in Comrades.”

When an audit was done on CMA memberships in 2022, it was revealed that 242 of the 345 members did not belong to an athletic club.

Despite this, Ngwenya was adamant that allegations of maladministration at the CMA are devoid of any truth and implied that there are external forces trying to bring down the CMA and muddy its credibility.

“I hope your phones are still in your pockets as I am labelled a kleptomaniac,” Ngwenya told journalists.

“Maybe we’ll prove [our innocence] better in court… Yes, there are allegations of corruption, but there’s no corruption on the board because all procurement is done through one system, and any payment is accounted for in the books.

Read more: Athletics SA boss may face prosecution over alleged Lottery corruption

“No board member is involved in procurement. That I want to denounce now. So that when people say the hands of the Comrades board are in the cookie jar, you know that they are talking nonsense. They are spreading fake news to agitate people into believing there’s corruption,” he said.

Despite Ngwenya’s assertion about the procurement process, that in itself is not an issue. The alleged maladministration of the Comrades Marathon portfolio and resistance to move from cash to electronic payments is.

The Comrades Marathon is sitting on 97 years not out, but recent events have jeopardised its potential to reach a century not out. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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