This is a part of a series of articles on how Comrades was captured and why Ann Ashworth was fired. Despite support from the Chair, Vice Chair and Tier 1 sponsors, Ashworth’s contract extension was rejected at a Board meeting in June and her contract was ‘terminated with immediate effect.’ Ashworth believes that there were three main reasons leading to the Board firing her, this is the second.
It appears to be an open secret that Board votes are “bussed-in and bought” at the AGM. Prior to the November 2023 AGM, Ashworth was warned by a staff member that she was about to be “educated”.
It quickly became apparent what they meant was the arrival of the “community marshals” in a couple of buses. I have received many eyewitness reports from 2023 Comrades AGM attendees that these bussed in voters were not runners, could not speak English, and had no idea or interest in the proceedings and agenda items at the AGM. They were there for the food which they earned after voting for the candidates listed on the notes they carried. Speculation would suggest that they were paid to attend (or, at the very least, that any costs associated with their attendance, such as transport, was paid for).
READ MORE (this articles goes into detail about how the vote rigging occurs): How They Captured Comrades
The community marshals initiative was started many years ago after a foreign runner was mugged during the race in the Inchanga region. Board member Isaac Ngwenya suggested using the local community to patrol the route. Sounds sensible, although the eventual communities from which the marshals come are located far off the actual Comrades route.
The current situation is that you have a Community Marshals Portfolio which has been headed up by Isaac Ngwenya since its inception and there are two communities, Inchanga and Mpumalanga township, where Comrades pays for supposedly local people to act as route marshals on race day. Each of these has a local ‘community leader convenor’ who acts as the ‘mini boss’ for that community’s marshals and a central point with which Comrades personnel can communicate. For Inchanga it is Mr. X and in Mpumalanga township it is Mr. Y. The community marshals are responsible for the +/- 18km stretch between Drummond and Cato Ridge.
The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) pays the community marshals* a subsistence allowance for race day duties, covers their transport on race day and to the pre-race briefing. The pre-race briefing also includes a well catered braai which Comrades pays for. All good so far. Personally, I think that it is great that the local communities benefit from a big event like Comrades. Unfortunately, how much of the money actually filters through to the local people is questionable.
* Comrades also makes use of non-community marshals from organisations like MOTH and Lions who provide their own transport and the organisation that they represent (rather than the individual volunteer) receives a payment for every volunteer.
Ashworth noticed that several volunteer portfolios, most notably the community marshals, had been given large amounts of cash each year which could not be tracked and would not pass an audit.
When she started her contract in November 2023, Ashworth understood her role was to “clean up” and elevate the CMA to the standards of a corporate entity. She therefore amended the payments policy so that no cash sums in excess of R10,000 would be paid out as well as that all payments to suppliers and volunteers (which would include everyone from marshals to physios) would only be paid via EFT or eWallet. I am sure that Edward Kieswetter would approve. This is what you would expect for any legitimate business.
Clause 6 of Comrades ROC Procurement Procedures was updated to read, “It is the strong preference of the CMA Office to pay any staff/volunteers employed by an ROC portfolio by way of EFT directly into the individual’s bank account. In circumstances in which this is not possible, the CMA Office is able to pay any wages due to the individual via e-Wallet. Should neither of these payment options be acceptable to a portfolio leader and/or the staff, please engage with the Race & Operations Manager to discuss further.” This change was approved by the Finance Committee and subsequently the Board.
The community marshals are responsible for the area between Drummond and Cato Ridge (approximately 18km). Using the formula of four marshals at every intersection, ten for the two major parking areas and two marshals at every T-junction (the same formula is alos applied to the rest of the route), Ashworth estimated that 70 community marshals were needed for this section of the route. However, the race budget would allow for a greater number of community marshals so Ashworth went with the higher figure and communicated this to Isaac Ngwenya and Naomi Pandaram (who acts as Ngwenya’s 2IC and also previously worked with Ngwenya during his tenure at Transnet). Shortly afterwards Ashworth received a call from Mr. X requesting a meeting.
It is also noteworthy that Ashworth tried to implement equal pay for the community and ‘charity’ marshals (each charity receives approximately R300 per race day marshal). Ashworth, together with Alain Dalais (then the Procurement and Estate Manager, now acting ROM), met Mr. X. Mr. X rejected the equal pay offer and insisted that 210 marshals should continue to be used with an extra R10 per marshal applied as the “usual annual increase”.
Mr. X then proceeded to threaten Ashworth saying that if she continued in her efforts to change the status quo, the community marshals (as paid up members of the CMA) would ensure that she did not remain in her position for very long. Ashworth asked Mr. X directly whether this was a threat and Mr. X confirmed that it was, further elaborating that the 210 community marshals make sure that Isaac Ngwenya stays on the Board and, in return, Ngwenya ensures that the community marshals are well looked after.
Ashworth reported the threat to other members of the CMA staff and senior members of the Board. The incident, which Ashworth also drew to the attention of the ROC Portfolios affected by the threat (including the race’s external security officers) resulted in the letter below being sent from the majority of the ROC leadership committee to the Comrades Board. To date it appears that nothing has been done other than talk about the incident at a Board level and the ROC committee have received no feedback to their letter (much to their irritation) despite repeated engagements (most recently on 8 July).
During the ensuing Board discussions, not a single member was willing to comment on the allegations Mr. X made regarding his ‘scratch my back’ relationship with Ngwenya. Ngwenya did agree to “talk to the Amakosis [traditional leaders]” – the purpose and outcome of which is unclear.
As mentioned earlier, the pre-race briefings are part of the community marshal package that Comrades pays for. The briefings include the incentive of a braai with drinks plus gifts of hard liquor for the chiefs. The Comrades entourage typically includes CMA staff, Board members, volunteers and the Community Marshal Portfolio convenors.
At the first briefing, Comrades was told to cater for 140 people but fewer than 40 arrived. Even the 2013 heat wave and gale force head wind had a better hit rate than the 40 out of 140 that made the briefing. Despite Comrades paying Mr. X several thousand rands for transporting the community marshals to the pre-race briefing, only one taxi was seen at the first venue. Someone was certainly taken for a ride but it wasn’t the community marshals.
The second briefing took place later that afternoon about 45 minutes down the road. Here Comrades was asked to cater for 70 people but fewer than 25 showed up. Perhaps they were impacted by an unannounced taxi strike as none of the transport that Comrades had paid for was present.
There was a possible explanation for the antics of Team Ngwenya-Pandaram provided by one source, “I don’t know to what extent it is deliberate, and to what extent a total lack of capacity to organise. On occasions the briefing hall has been booked on the wrong date, no catering has been arranged, and there almost always seems to be a problem related to ‘drinks’.”
The community marshals were to be paid at the pre-race briefing. Ashworth lost her fight for good governance with traceable payments but a compromise was made that each marshal would be paid in cash at the meeting and an agreement reached that the person receiving the cash would sign for it, providing their name, ID number and contract details for audit purposes. This would also allow the names of the marshals to be checked against the CMA membership list for verification purposes.
Ashworth had 210 envelopes with R180 in each. However, due to so few people arriving at the pre-race briefings, she could not hand over the money. After some discussion, Ashworth was instructed to hand over all the money to Mr. X for distribution to the community marshals as she would not have time to pay each community marshal on race day. You don’t have to be a cynic to wonder how many of the 210 community marshals saw any of that money.
Come race day and Ashworth, who rode the route ahead of the runners to ensure that all the support tables, elite water stations, signage and other preparations were 100% in order, counted the visible community marshals on duty. Her final tally was fewer than 50*.
* I asked various well-placed Comrades volunteers to provide an estimate. One counted 121 possibles but all the other estimates and counts were between 30 and 50.
Another red flag was that eyewitnesses confirmed that only three taxis transporting community marshals were seen on race day. The price of petrol really has become exorbitant if this all that several thousand rands for race day transport gets you.
After the race, within the context of a race day Race Organising Committee (ROC) debrief, Ashworth asked Pandaram for a named list of all the community marshals that worked on race day (Portfolio leader Ngwenya could apparently not be bothered to attend). This was not provided despite repeated requests before and after the race.
Said one source, “At our debrief meeting Ann asked Naomi for this list and also asked her the total number of marshals out on race day, as she [Ashworth] could not see many when she was driving the route just ahead of the front runners. Naomi claimed that all 210 of the marshals were present and she saw all of them stating that it was cold and the marshals opted not to wear the volunteer T-shirts and bibs given to them but rather their own clothes. Naomi further said the list was almost complete, they were just short of some signatures and ID numbers from marshals, and that she would submit that to Ann. I gather she still hasn’t submitted the list.”
Brian Jarmey-Swan, a ‘lifetime’ athletics official and administrator in KZN who has been responsible for Quality Control for the last five years at Comrades, also tried to chase down the elusive list of community marshals that were present for race day duty. Jarmey-Swan complained, “I’ve asked for a list of all community marshals but inevitably that never arrives. There is no effort to achieve good governance of the community marshals by either Isaac Ngwenya or Naomi Pandaram.”
An exasperated Jarmey-Swan admits, “I’ve given up on asking for a list of the community marshals as I’ve found that I’m wasting my breath.” With Ashworth out of the picture, it’s unlikely that anyone else within the Comrades leadership structures will pressurise Ngwenya and Pandaram for the signed and confirmed list of community marshals. Once again, this is a flagrant and apparently deliberate violation of the updated Comrades procurement procedures with clause 8 reading, “A list of all volunteers and/or staff utilised by an ROC portfolio must be provided to the CMA Office by the end of May, together with copies of each individual’s identity document, indemnity, contract and/or consent form (as required).”
In an email response to my questions, Ngwenya claimed, “On race day there was a register am told and all 210 marshals were there.” However, he has not responded to my request to produce the signed register which appears to have disappeared faster than a 6-pack out of the Comrades bar fridge.
Ngwenya also denied being the head of the Community Marshals Portfolio, “Unfortunately in 2024 I was not the one in charge of Community marshals but I was the 2iC as per Ann’s directives. I am not aware of buying of votes and bussing people that you are talking about.”
Whilst I have confirmed that Ngwenya remained head of the Community Marshals Portfolio, he was demoted from heading the up the Risk and Disaster Management Portfolio after the plethora of safety issues experienced at the 2023 event. Explained one well-placed source, “Isaac, as head of Risk and Safety, would have done route inspections, assisted with cut off calculations and done a start inspection pre-race. So he should have picked up the fencing issues at the start, the potholes, the bottleneck in the first 5km, etc. but didn’t. He then had the audacity to be Rowyn James’ loudest critic and demanded his resignation.”
READ MORE: The Nightmare on Epworth Street (Safety negligence at Comrades breaks bones and shatters dreams)
The fact that Ngwenya and Pandaram are unable to account for the money or the marshals has been a constant gripe of the ROC for many years. According to one longstanding volunteer, “They don’t arrive for duty and, if they do, they sit under a tree and talk or congregate around the refreshment tables [instead of the intersection].”
Another volunteer was more forthright in his complaints, “We always have to chase them away from the refreshment points as they harass the tables for product. For multiple years we have brought up these points and have asked for details of the sector heads, like we get from the [charity] marshals portfolio, but these details are never provided.”
The strong suspicion (supported by WhatsApp conversations that I have seen), is that the Community Marshal cash re-enters the Comrades coffers when Mr. X and Mr. Y arrive with a large amount of cash to pay in bulk for their 80 and 50 CMA memberships. The Community Marshals appears to be a cash flush portfolio as this year they have apparently ‘invested’ an additional R10,000 to cover 100 new CMA memberships ahead of voting for Board members at the November AGM.
A group of 50 Comrades Marathon Association members, the majority of whom appear to be disgruntled runners, have called for a Special General Meeting (SGM) which is scheduled for 15 August. Amongst various items on the agenda are “Irregularities within the Community Marshals Portfolio” and the “call for a resolution to be passed for the removal of Mrs. Zinhle Sokhela and Mr. Isaac Ngwenya as board members of the CMA, with a proviso, that they shall be disqualified from ever serving as board members of the CMA in future.”
It appears that the fate of Isaac Ngwenya depends on whether there are sufficient ‘genuine’ CMA members at the SGM to outvote the bussed in and bought votes. We can expect a high voter turnout on the evening of the 15th of August in Pietermaritzburg. The transport problems that plague the community marshals on race day never seem to impact attendance on voting days.
Afterword: Spot the marshal
Unfortunately SuperSport do not make the race footage available on YouTube but there are several runners who recorded long stretches of the route like the three I’ve included below. If you are very bored, you can trawl through the footage and see how many marshals you can spot between Drummond and Cato Ridge.
Tips: The community marshals will have a high res top and red flag. Others with high res tops (e.g. traffic officers) should not be counted – generally they can be distinguished as they also have reflective strips on their high res shirts. As per the quotes in the article, community marshals are more likely to be spotted near support tables and there is a group of 15 outside the Dunbar Spar in Cato Ridge.
All this should be preventable, because, the committee members not adhering to the comrades rules and constitution should be subject to a vote of no confidence. Once achieved, they can be summarily dismissed and replaced with personnel who have a good cv of integrity and performance outcomes. (hopefully)
Thanks For this fascinating article. This is just typical.
To mitigate the fake voters, I believe that to be a member of CMA you must have run at least two comrades events before being legible.
You must be a pain member of any of the provisional athletics bodies.
Keep up the great work.
As one of the small past group of Comrades House Paid Annual Staff, I am devestated to see that Comrades has come to this dreadful state.
What was a “community happening”, where most of the work was
done by unpaid persons, and supported by professional persons of all sorts, free of charge, it is tragic.
This current stance that you are taking in your reporting will emperil the race. Isaac as far as I’m aware is the chair of the Comrades heritage committee. You just want to push out the non white members of the board and volunteers. This won’t end well. The minority wants to run rough shod over the majority. This won’t end well. If you want to advocate changes by all means do so but keep in mind what’s being managed and which stakeholders are being kept in check.
Nonsense. From your previous comment and this one, I assume you have a personal connection to Isaac Ngwenya. This issue nothing to do with race and everything to do with competence and preventing Comrades from entering into a state of mismanagement and corruption from which it cannot recover. If you disagree with my analysis of the situation or feel that anything I’ve stated is non-factual, feel free to provide a fact-based counter argument. Playing the race card without any basis for doing so is cheap and tacky.
As per usual the race card is being played BY THE RACISTS.
What a terrible shame that Ann was fired, isnt that so typical of the corruption that is so prevelant in this country and the rest of Africa.
Unfortunately, I know of Naomi Pandraham. She was employed at a large organisation in Pietermaritzburg as admin support in the Risk Management Department. She was incompetent, spent more time on the phone talking to whomever, was unpopular with most of the Risk Management team, with the exception of the puppet who promoted her as a Safety Professional when she had no qualifications oe experience. There was always tension in the office when she was at work. Often, when things were discussed in the office amongst the staff ears only, the item was immediately delivered to Management. When she resigned and went to work for Transnet, the atmosphere in the office improved tremendously.
Nkosinathi Masuku – play the race card. What absolute rubbish. The attempts to boost the membership of CMA has been ongoing since ever I can remember. It has never in the past been a priority in the past. There has NEVER been any mention of race, creed, ethnicity, gender etc except by the racist Board Member. Others have said that there is a move to recruit white people – where did that come from? Can ANYBODY show me a single mention of race by anybody who has tried to recruit members??? Stuart and many others have called on runners to be involved.
N Musuku. Your racist comments are so unwarranted ! If you are a comrades runner you should know that we runners do not differentiate on colour but look toward having the integrity by the Board to keep the race “clean” & by that I mean free of comments you have put forward in your reply. All runners want is the Board to be free & fair & devoid of any hint of corruption. I have to ask ? Are you a CMA member ? Have you ever run Comrades ? If so, perhaps your morals fall short of your fellow runners in how they want the race organization to perform. Maybe be in time you will see the light ?