CMA 2024 AGM: Wrap Up

The 2024 Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) got off to a slow start. The meeting was due to start at 10:00 and at 10:04 interim CMA Chair Jeff Minnaar got proceedings underway. After giving some special welcomes, he thanked CMA members for sacrificing their Black Friday weekend shopping excursions and promised they’d be able to get their discounted shopping fix around 12 noon. This seemed like an unlikely and overly optimistic estimate – and we had not even got to the first motion on the agenda by 12:30. Any doubts as to the validity of Minnaar’s estimation were further exacerbated with the announcement that the AGM would be delayed “for at least 15 minutes as there is a major traffic jam in Pietermaritzburg.”

There were also issues with online attendance which resulted in a 10:25 email to registered online attendees with direct links to the meeting and clearer instructions. When all was said and done there were about 200 in person attendees and about 280 online attendees at peak. As the AGM lasted about eight hours there was a significant amount of attrition.

If you want a blow by blow account of the day (with some typos thrown in for good measure) you can read my live blog from the AGM here: CMA 2024 AGM: Live Blog

The Finances

It took us about an hour to get through the formalities and into the finances. There were quite a few members upset that the financial statements were not distributed beforehand and it was pointed out by Alan Gray (who was voted onto the Board later that afternoon), that at the previous AGM the Board took a specific action to make the financials available three weeks before the meeting but has failed to do so.

Printed copies of the financials were available to the in person audience but the copies were not emailed to members or uploaded to the online meeting room which included six other documents. I am not sure whether this was done deliberately to obfuscate and prevent scrutiny on the financials or is just another item to add to the long list of blatant blunders from the interim Board. I should also mention that I received a copy of the financial statements from a source early in the week so there really was no excuse for ‘keeping them secret’ until the AGM.

Financials can be quite tricky to understand and interpret at the best of times – and “talking through the numbers” rather than making use of the standard corporate PowerPoint slide deck stable made them really hard to follow. I think that any chance Les Burnard had of getting back onto the Board went out the window with his stunted presentation of the financials.

To be fair to Burnard, he was not part of the interim Board he should not have been presenting but stepped in to present when the interim Chair of the Finance Committee, Busani Ndlovu (who was an interim Board member and was standing for election) decided to attend virtually. Burnard did clarify that the auditors were asked to deliver the financial statements three weeks in advance and that the auditors confirmed this in writing. It was unclear whether the failing was with the interim CMA Board or the auditors. However, as David Asworth pointed out during the meeting, the accountability for the financials rests with the interim Board. Burnard did make use of PowerPoint at prior AGMs so perhaps he was thrown a hospital pass.

My main takeaways were:

• The cash ‘surplus’ is now almost R43 million which may well be the highest ever (and is definitely well above pre-Covid levels). This should provide room for the new Board to reduce the race entry fee (and raises questions why the interim Board failed to do so for the 2025 event).
• There was a massive increase of R10 million in sponsorship income (largely due to the work of former ROM Ann Ashworth). Whilst Burnard gave Ashworth no credit for the sponsorship increase he did mention her in relation to increased start and finish line expenses for ‘bling’. I thought this was poor form from Burnard.
• Burnard mentioned that there were two ‘settlements’ included in the increase in salaries. Allowing for the stated 7% annual salary increase and the fact that Ashworth received less than R200k in her CCMA settlement, that means that Rowyn James’ golden handshake appears to be around R1.5 to R1.8 million.
• There was a massive R400k increase in legal fees. This is largely due to CMA deciding to oppose (and subsequently withdraw) the urgent High Court ‘locals only’ interdict ahead of the SGM in August. This is an immense waste of money by the CMA Board (especially considering that both external and internal legal counsel advised them against opposing).
• This also means that Steve Mkasi and KZNA have spent well over R200k limit that would require formal club approval (Mkasi claimed R196k at a recent council meeting) and this appears to be a clear violation of the KZNA constitution.

Proposed Amendments to the Constitution

Changes to the CMA constitution require two thirds of those in attendance voting in favour.

Motion 7.1.1 To prevent any member of the ASA or KZNA Board from holding a CMA Board position: Not carried 224 (52%) in favour of 427 votes cast

Motion 7.1.2 To remove the ASA and KZNA seats from the CMA Board: Not carried 183 (55%) in favour / 120 against / 31 abstains

The first motion was proposed by Rowyn James (who was not present). Acting ROM Alain Dalais read out the motivation which was very detailed and well-articulated – James clearly put plenty of thought into the motion. The way it was worded in the agenda was unfortunately not clear and this sloppiness from the interim Board resulted in much debate and discontent. Ultimately it resulted in the motion being split into two whilst both had over 50% in favour, it failed to get the two-thirds required for a constitutional change.

Although I personally voted in favour of both motions based on the recent deplorable actions from KZNA which I believe pose the ultimate risk to the future of the ultimate human race, it is probably better that these motions (which are quite drastic and could lead to alienating the formal athletics bodies) did not carry.

However, the unfortunate result of the in-meeting splitting the voting motions into two was that the interim CMA Board managed to crash the voting system which resulted in further delays. After an extended period, the work around was that online voters had to vote for all motions ‘in bulk’ which was not ideal as most of the motions had not been discussed on the floor (and some voters might have changed their mind on hearing different arguments).

Motion 7.2 To limit the total term of a Board member to 8 years: Not carried 191 (57%) in favour / 134 against / 9 abstains

In the discussion on this item, Brenda Marolen (who was voted onto the Board later that afternoon) pointed out that, if passed, it would require some of the Board nominees to stand aside (no names were mentioned but most notably this would have removed Mqondisi Ngcobo from the ballot and prevented his return to the Board). Although not discussed, it would also have resulted in current Board member Isaac Ngwenya being removed from the Board.

Running legend Paul Selby, sporting a hairstyle like Boris Johnson, made a strong argument that competent people should not be removed unnecessarily (using the late Mick Winn as an example) and that the normal voting process would “sort things out”. I think this argument (which I agree with) probably swayed the undecided voters.

Motion 7.3 To make the KZNA and ASA Board seats non-voting: Carried 268 (87%) in favour / 32 against / 10 abstains

Mark Leathers (who would receive the most votes in the Board election later that afternoon) introduced the motion. He explained that whilst it’s important that KZNA have a voice at Comrades, they should not interfere in the running of the event and members’ rights. He argued for the motion “to ensure that there is no outside political interference” and highlighted the well-publicised ‘locals only’ High Court interdict that would not have happened (and would have saved a lot of money) if this was the case.

This was the first really important vote and it carried by a landslide. It also highlights just how unpopular the actions of KZNA are amongst the running community and how little grass roots support KZNA has.

Motion 7.4 To merge Life Membership and Honours and just have ‘Honours with Life Membership”: Carried 305 (88%) in favour/ 9 against / 33 abstains

Former Cheryl Winn introduced this motion. Essentially it is a semantic change to merge the two types of honouree positions awarded by the CMA. It sounds like there was some kind of hierarchy in the past which is no longer relevant (except presumably to the 9 people who voted against the change).

Normal Motions

To pass, these required a majority of 50.1% (excluding abstains) to carry.

Motion 8.1 Using local manufacturers for clothing (not voted on)

I thought that this would be voted on but it was evidently a non-voting item. Minnaar just said that people can propose ideas and they’ll “chat to the suppliers” (whatever that means).

Motion 8.2 That no actively serving Board Member may simultaneously hold a portfolio position on the Race Organising Committee (ROC): Carried 178 (89%) in favour / 21 against / 9 abstains

This was another important vote as the conflict of interest of certain Board members heading up ROC portfolios has been one of the root causes of many past problems (and increases the risk of corruption and maladministration).

Certain Board members have infiltrated the various ROC portfolios essentially creating a conflict of interest between themselves and the Race and Organisation Manager (ROM). The Board is responsible for the strategic direction of Comrades and is essentially the ‘boss’ of the ROM. However, when Board members insist on sitting on portfolios with operational functions then the ROM becomes the ‘boss’ of the Board member creating a conflict of interest.

Unsurprisingly, Celi Makhoba, spoke against the motion as did several others. However, based on the voting, they were clearly just a very vocal minority.

Norrie Williamson, with more international race organisation experience than anyone else at the AGM, pointed out that international protocol is that Board members do not get involved in day to day activities.

I was hoping that someone from the ROC would step up to the plate (as I know that Board member meddling has been a big gripe for many of these volunteers). Fortunately, long-time ROC volunteer Chris Bent raised his hand and clearly articulated the conflict of interest when Board members insist on involving themselves in operational matters. If anyone was in any doubt about which way to vote on this motion, Bent straightened them out.

Motion 8.3 Clarification on cyberbullying (not voted on)

I had the popcorn ready for this one. Sadly, if anyone was hoping for clarification, Minnaar could not provide it. We’re still in the dark although Minnaar did read a definition of cyberbullying that he got off the internet.

Motion 8.4 Update on investigations into allegations of misconduct (not voted on)

Alain Dalais was asked to handle this agenda item and reported that the CMA has appointed a law firm specialising in labour law and investigations of this kind, that the investigation into corruption and maladministration is ongoing and that they expect a detailed report in two weeks’ time. The CMA have been advised not to disclose preliminary findings as this might be ‘prejudicial to the investigation’. Dalais also highlighted that the investigators are “completely independent” with no ties to CMA Board members or staff.

Based on the fact that conducting this investigation was a key outcome from the SGM held in the middle of August, it does appear that the interim CMA Board have been sitting on their hands. I can confirm that on 28 November I finally received an email from the investigating attorneys saying that they would be setting up a meeting with me in the next two weeks.

Motion 8.5 Catering at the Finish Venue – allow clubs to bring their own refreshments (not voted on)

I was glad that this one was not voted on as I accidentally voted the wrong way (against cheap beer at the finish) when we had to cast all our votes online before discussions and clarifications.

Dalais handled this item as well. Other than for specific safety rules (like no gas canisters and no open flames), the new finish venue in People’s Park will allow clubs to decide whether they use the in-house caterers or bring their own food and drink.

Board Member Elections

This was the crucial part of the AGM. The list of nominees had dropped from 21 to 14 in the run up to the AGM and there were plenty of very strong candidates to choose from. All members got seven votes with those in person voting under the guidance and observation of ten IEC volunteers.

The final results were read out just before 18:00, almost eight hours after proceedings started:

Mark Leathers 278

Willie Mtolo 254

Mqondisi Ngcobo 240

Brenda Marolen 240

Carel Nolte 228

Rory Steyn 222

Alan Gray 207

Note: The number of votes cast for the seven unsuccessful candidates was not announced.

The top five get two year terms to the Board and the next two get a one year term. This was a landslide victory for the ‘Comrades Collective’ group who have said and done all the right things in the build up to the AGM. My personal view is that this is a great new Board – the future of Comrades is bright!

Closing Remarks

I thought that the interim CMA Board did a very poor job in properly preparing for the AGM (resulting in confusion and delays) and it was also very poorly chaired. This sentiment was shared by most others I have spoken to and comments made on social media.

Having a ‘head’ table at the front of the room predominantly full of OWM also created a very poor perception (and probably aggravated some of the frustrations expressed by members at the back of the hall who felt that their raised hands were being ignored). I think that the lack of diversity at the front of the hall is called ‘scoring an OWM goal’.

Likewise, online attendees were frustrated at being ignored and there were a couple of occasions where an online member made a valid point and the chair just continued as if nothing was said which was rather bizarre.

Whilst one needs to be understanding of the technical hitches that will always occur and make some allowances for the historic first hybrid AGM, better planning could have prevented many of the issues and resulted in a smoother AGM. In particular, it looked like no one ‘behind the table’ had ever run an online meeting before. The interim Board have once again done themselves no favours and there are few who will be sad to see them go.

The kindest thing one can say is that they have provided an incredibly low base from which the new Board can improve. We hit the Bill Rowan duration mark during the 2024 AGM, I fully expect that Comrades will see its first sub 5-hour Gold finish at the 2025 AGM with professionals running the show.

On a personal note, I am very optimistic that the 2024 CMA Board election results provide closure on the never ending ‘Netflix series’ that I have been writing about since Vanillagate erupted and Ann Ashworth was inexplicably fired from her position as ROM. I am looking forward to having a lot more time to write about stats and inspirational stories next year!

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