Comrades Capture: Season One Epilogue

This is a reflection on the series “Comrades Capture” articles and results from the Special General Meeting (SGM) held on 15 August 2024.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the meeting as I was facilitating an offsite for work in the Magaliesburg. However, I was able to attend vicariously through WhatsApp messages from various attendees. The extremely positive results received from the SGM did mean that I added one to two celebratory whiskies to my regular intake of beer that night (but, even so, I woke up on Friday with the clearest head I’ve had in several weeks).

The five most important ‘voting’ items on the agenda are discussed and analysed below.

1. “The passing of a resolution for the removal of Mrs. Zinhle Sokhela as board member of the CMA, with a proviso that she shall be disqualified from ever serving as board member of the CMA in future”

Zinhle Sokhela was sitting in the back of the hall. She was obviously hoping that a motion to dismiss the agenda item from the meeting would carry. When this last-ditch attempt was unsuccessful (256 votes to approve the agenda versus 93 votes against), her representative emerged with her letter of resignation (and it appears that she left the building).

The letter, which includes an ‘apology’, was read out. I have not seen a full copy of the letter. However, based on what I’ve read from the news reports and been told, it is a ‘sorry, but…’ non-apology. It is notable that she made no attempt to apologise to Ann Ashworth (who she insinuated is a racist without any basis within her WhatsApp message). Credit where credit is due, I was pleased to hear that she did acknowledge my role in her predicament.

Whilst the racial tone of the ‘Vanillagate’ WhatsApp received most of the media attention, everyone (including myself) missed the bald-faced lie that “as it stands we have close to new 400 members (all vanilla) who have joined and want to attend the AGM in November to take back the CMA Board to be whites only”. According to sources within the CMA Membership portfolio, only 83 new CMA memberships had been received by 18 June (when she sent the message) and 31 were ‘clearly isiZulu surnames.’

The irony is that Sokhela’s racist WhatsApp message resulted in about 800 new CMA membership applications (from all flavours of ice-cream) in the last 12 days before membership cutoff. Therefore, Sokhela’s last action as a Board member triggered the most successful recruitment drive of all time and resulted in the largest CMA membership of all time. Quite an achievement!

The voting numbers I received were 230 votes for her being permanently barred from being a Board member in future and just 87 against (39 members abstained from voting). An unequivocal victory for the runners.

2. The passing of a resolution for the removal of Mr. Isaac Ngwenya as board member of the CMA, with a proviso that he shall be disqualified from ever serving as board members of the CMA in future.

Due to the original submission for the SGM, only the alleged racist statements from Isaac Ngwenya were discussed. The allegations of theft, mismanagement and corruption were not debated or considered in the voting process.

This ended up being a bit of “he said / she said” debate. I included the full text of item 5.2.1 on the agenda, “Allegations that Mr. Ngwenya, at a board meeting on either 24 or 28 February 2024, accused the then ROM of recruiting too many white volunteers and that she was trying to ‘return the CMA to the era of Apartheid’” within this article: CMA Board Members should focus on the Race (not on the race). The Chair received a pre-published copy of the article and did not dispute this statement or any of the other content in the article that was published.

That Ngwenya’s comments were followed by the singing of struggle songs by other Board members “under their breath”, which Ashworth brought up at the SGM, was disputed and I removed this content from the published version of the article. However, I have seen WhatsApp messages Ashworth sent the day after the meeting to two different individuals mentioning the event. The singing of struggle songs was also mentioned as an off-the-cuff remark during an interview I conducted with Ashworth before the race on cutoffs.

Ngwenya has clearly been the victim of racism in the past as this IOL article from 2011 covers: https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/inter-racial-sa-family-grew-during-apartheid-1090843. He and some other members of the Board were also impacted by the deplorable racist ‘Vote Right, Vote White’ slogan that surfaced during the 2012 CMA AGM.

That Ngwenya is sensitive to the point of fixation on race is perhaps to be expected. He also used the, “I can’t be racist because I have a white wife” rationale (which is a stronger version of the “but I’ve got black friends” defence).

This was the only motion that was not carried, with the majority of the voting members abstaining from voting. Based on the circumstances and what was presented at the SGM, I would wholeheartedly agree that this was the correct result.

However, the victory may be short-lived for Ngwenya based on the next agenda item concerning an independent investigation into the Community Marshals portfolio which he heads.

3. The passing of a resolution for the appointment of an independent committee to investigate the Community Marshals Portfolio, and to report its findings to the board, which report is to be published to members.

This was carried subject to the insertion of the words, “retired judge” being added. That the investigation will be conducted by a retired judge is a significant bonus because it should guarantee an impartial investigation and is likely to result in the confirmation of the allegations and evidence presented in these articles: How They Captured Comrades and Why Ashworth was Fired Part II: Cash and Carry On Regardless. I am 100% confident in the accuracy of information within the article and expect the independent investigation will result in the permanent departure of Isaac Ngwenya from the Board.

There was a discussion and proposal that the investigation should not only look back at the governance issues but also at how Comrades can engage and interact with all communities along the route for future sustainability and growth. Norrie Williamson, who travels widely in his work for World Athletics, stressed the importance and precedent of community support and involvement in major international events like the London Marathon. This view was widely supported, highlighting that the issue is not of the involvement of the Community Marshals per se but the poor and allegedly corrupted governance thereof that has upset people.

4. The passing of a resolution for the appointment of an independent panel to manage the whole process of interviewing candidates who may apply for the position of ROM, and to report its recommendations to the board and the members in writing.

The motion was passed. The Chair reported that recruitment for the position will be delayed until the current situation is resolved because the Board does not think the best candidates will apply at present.

The timing of the recruitment will be watched with interest, as will whether Ann Ashworth applies for the position. After Ashworth’s dismissal, it was clear that it does not matter how well the role is performed nor whether runners and sponsors are happy but that one’s survival is dependent on how well one acquiesces and kowtows to the Board. Some radical changes are needed before the next ROM is appointed so that they don’t run into the same brick wall.

There was also discussion on whether there should be a single ‘Race and Operations Manager’ position or if it should be split into ‘General Manager’ and ‘Race Director’ roles. This highlighted that the entire leadership structure of the CMA requires an upgrade, with oversight and visionary views for the Board and independence of race implementation given to the new top management.

5. Allowing online attendance and voting at future CMA AGMs.

This was the big one because, if passed, it will make future capture of Comrades much more difficult. There were notably far fewer attendees than predicted (or that RSVPed) with the diabolical traffic no doubt playing a big role in the reduced numbers. One wonders what the voter turnout would have been if online attendance was already in place.

In the run up to the SGM, The Witness (who seem to act as the mouthpiece of the CMA and KZNA), reported anonymous concerns from KZNA that online voting would be prejudicial to those who are not “technology savvy”. This is an obviously incorrect and flawed argument since in person attendance and voting remains unchanged.

Former Comrades Chairperson, MacDonald Chitja, pointed out that a constitutional amendment requires 30 days but that the SGM was being held “two days short”.

The CMA constitution requires 30 or more days’ notice for an amendment but a SGM needs to be scheduled less than 30 days from when the notice is provided. Essentially the CMA constitution is in conflict with itself.

Based on the timing, the SGM actually provided 29 days’ notice and, in what was probably the comment of the night, Norrie Williamson (observing that it was just before 10pm) pointed out that, “If we wait a couple of hours we’ll have our 30 days’ notice.”

However, Professor Mike Cowling (who is head of the CMA’s Legal and Constitutional Committee) responded to Chitja’s constitutional concern that this was an error in the constitution and to allow this to derail the vote would be highly technical and that there is no prejudice to the vote taking place. Cowling further elaborated that the matter had been considered and approved by the CMA’s Legal and Constitutional Committee. Cowling’s views were seconded by Cas Pretorius.

KZNA President Steve Mkasi, voiced his concern that non-compliance with the constitution cannot be condoned and that the Board was supposed to investigate and report back at the AGM (due to be held at the end of November) so the motion is premature. It is important to note that the Board, not the members, set the date for the SGM and Mkasi was quickly reminded by the Chair that he (Mkasi) is a Board member and was present when the board met to set the date for the SGM.

The motion went to the vote and was passed almost unanimously. This is a massive victory for the runners and those with the best interests of the future of Comrades at heart, taking it back from the compromised administrators who seem to be governed by self-interest.

Thanks and Commendations

A huge thank you to all those people who made the effort to attend the SGM – especially those from outside the Midlands area. This required a great deal of expense and personal sacrifice from many people. Commendations too for the manner in which those who managed to beat the traffic conducted themselves during the meeting.

A huge thank you must also go to those who’ve worked extremely hard behind the scenes to help bring some restitution to the Comrades Marathon Association.

A massive commendation needs to be directed to the Comrades Chair, Mqondisi Ngcobo, for the manner in which he chaired the SGM. The SGM could easily have dissolved into mudslinging and violence resulting in a polarised membership. This quote from Cas Pretorius sums it up nicely, “I believe that honour must be given where honour is due – therefore please honour the Chairperson for the manner in which he chaired the SGM.”

Voting for new Board members at the next AGM

The next AGM is due to be held at the end of November. Four of the current Board member seats become available, plus the vacated seat of Zinhle Sokhela and potentially the seat of Isaac Ngwenya.

I would strongly encourage runners to think about individuals that would serve the CMA well and encourage them to stand for election. Board incumbents who have been compromised and have not served the interest of Comrades or the Comrades runner should be sent packing. In particular, it is clear that someone with strong HR skills and experience is needed on the Board.

I also strongly believe that we need a diverse Board with lots of different ice-cream flavours (filling the seats with old white dudes would be entirely counterproductive). Hopefully we will see some strong female candidates and the injection of some youthful energy, ideas and innovations.

Here’s to the future of the greatest ultra marathon on the planet.

Closure

I am hoping that this brings the “Comrades Capture: Season One” saga to a natural end. I am not planning to write any further articles on the topic. I am truly hoping that there is no need for a Season Two. Much of that is going to depend on the subsequent actions of KZNA (and potentially ASA).

Researching and writing the articles has consumed a huge amount of my free time and has been emotionally draining. I am looking forward to writing and publishing the large backlog of humorous marathon race report articles that have been piling up.

Header photo credit: Cuan Walker

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