Interim CMA Board says “No” to Transparency at Bizarre Press Conference

Perceptions that those in Comrades House live in a parallel universe will only be exacerbated after a rather bizarre press conference held on Monday morning. Apparently, the intention was to reinstill confidence in a severely compromised CMA Board rocked by a number of dismissals and resignations. However, instead of ‘steadying the ship’ most viewers left concluding that the CMA is now far further up the creek without a paddle.

The newly appointed interim CMA Chair, Jeff Minnaar, started proceedings by reading from a press release that was essentially a tirade on cyber bullying, harassment and defamation. He was particularly critical of a ‘blogger’ which I assume would be the author and attributed the cyber bullying to the resignation of all five Board members, “I believe that the real reason that they left the Board was because of all the social media challenges that there are, the derogatory statements made by (sic) the Board.”

After the press conference, I made contact with the former Chair, Mqondisi Ngcobo, and Vice Chair, Les Burnard, who both confirmed that I had never cyber bullied them. I have never written about or contacted Kerwin Basson so I assume I am in the clear there as well. Zinhle Sokhela has been exposed as both a racist and a liar. I have written two fact based articles on Sokhela and she only has herself to blame for negative media and comments critical of her behaviour. She was given the right of reply to all content but the only correspondence I received from her was a lawyer’s letter. Phumlani Ntuli was implicated within this article. He was the given right of reply and I included his comments within the series of articles I wrote.

READ MORE: Has the Comrades Marathon been Captured (and why Ann Ashworth was fired)

I am not sure that Minnaar or the CMA actually understands what cyber bullying is. Writing fact based articles with documented evidence and corroborated statements from witnesses is not cyber bullying. Wishing death and dread disease on someone’s wife and children, which was Dianne Reddy’s (Comrades Marketing and Communications Manager Delaine Cools’ sister) hope for my family, is however a better fit as a concrete example of cyber bullying.

Dorothy Doorasamy, Delaine Cools’ mother, leaving 29 comments on my blog site accusing me of all sorts of crimes against humanity and sexual improprieties probably also falls into the cyber bullying and harassment category.

READ MORE: Cools & the Gang – Greatest Hits (A Comrades Communication Breakdown)

If one was being kind, Minnaar could be likened to the affable but dangerously out of his depth Commandant Eric Lassard from the Police Academy series. However, he quickly slipped into ‘stern headmaster talking to naughty children’ mode. Grant Pratt commenting on the Facebook feed said, “[Minnaar] reminded me of a PW Botha or BJ Vorster standing up lecturing the nation during the 70s.”

Before she was suspended and subsequently banned from Comrades for life at the SGM, Zinhle Sokhela did her best to drive a racial wedge into the CMA stating that, “[the new CMA members] want to take back the CMA Board to be whites only.” Isaac Ngwenya reportedly made similar statements in Board meetings and to non-white Comrades volunteers.

Minnaar served his Chairmanship in the early 1990s before democracy came to South Africa. Therefore, one of the great ironies is that their biggest fears have materialised without any voting taking place. We now have two very old unelected white men at the helm of CMA serving at the apparent behest of KZNA who appear to be pulling all the strings.

Whether the interim Board is legitimate or not is another question. The CMA constitution is very clear that an individual can Chair the organisation for a maximum of four years. Minnaar stated that he was Chair for three years but others are questioning whether it was in fact four. However, the bigger question is whether or not the remaining Board members had a quorum to make decisions.

The CMA constitution clearly did not imagine a scenario where five elected Board members would be removed or have resigned in quick succession. This leaves only four elected Board members, Isaac Ngwenya, Celi Makhoba, Sweetname Nkabinde and Nontuthuko Mashimane (Pat Freeman was seconded onto the Board and Steve Mkasi is unelected as the KZNA representative).

Minnaar has never actually run Comrades but was a volunteer for many years. According to Norrie Williamson, Minnaar is a “big active stalwart with total hands on commitment (particularly at the finish for decades – a real dirty fingernail worker.” Another commentator was less complimentary, “Jeff is probably the most verkrampt person they could have opted for, very conservative, not at all well-educated, extremely parochial.”

Minnaar is clearly someone who has a great passion for Comrades, even attributing religious significance to the event, “The race is not going to continue if they continue with this blasphemous behaviour in public.” He continued, “If those people want to destroy this race, they must just continue doing what they’re doing now in the media, and this race is not going to see the end of the century*.”

* By “the end of the century”, it is assumed Minnaar meant the 100th running of Comrades in 2027, not the year 2099.

He accused those who exposed the alleged corruption, maladministration and incompetence within Comrades House of “trying to destroy the race.” This is an accusation familiar to the author as the same denunciation was levelled during the Comrades cutoff drama after the 2023 event which eventually resulted in an apology and 50% reduction in the 2024 entry fee, seven weeks after the event for the several hundred runners robbed of a medal.

READ MORE: Where did all the runners go? The Comrades cutoff debacle.

Whilst Minnaar pointed out that there were always two sides to every story, he had not bothered to contact the author, Ann Ashworth or apparently anyone with a counter viewpoint before or after the press conference. Although he did not refer to anyone by name, it was clear to whom he was referring in his headmaster’s speech. This was picked up by commentators on the live Facebook chat of the live feed. Over 50 comments critical of the CMA were deleted from the Facebook chat after the event. There are currently still over 100 comments, the majority of which are still severely critical of the CMA press conference.

Another irony is that the press conference was broadcast live on Facebook but Minnaar referred to the content on the platform as ‘garbage’. He also appeared to admit that he did not know how to use the platform effectively and that he kept liking content* that was ‘fake news’, “And I must be quite honest I don’t read all that garbage. Because every time I did look at something [on Facebook] and I put a little tick next to it to say, ‘I Like’, then someone puts on there ‘Fake News.’ And you know it is all fake news.”

* Minnaar followed my “Running Mann“ Facebook page over the weekend but has not liked any of my posts yet.

On several occasions, the possibility of opening cases against people who “defamed our staff and our Board” was threatened. Mr. Minnaar, I can assure you that none of the articles I have written are fake news but I would implore you not to waste more of the CMA’s budget on frivolous and unwinnable court cases. Our entry fees are already too high.

Against the advice of both its internal and external legal counsel, the CMA decided to oppose the urgent High Court interdict brought by CMA members against the CMA Board and KZNA. This interdict came after KZNA tried to gerrymander the Special General Meeting voting process by issuing an illegal ‘locals only’ ruling. Against all further legal advice and expert opinion, the CMA appears to be willing to waste another million rand or more by continuing to oppose the matter set to come back before court on 23 October. It is highly likely that were the CMA membership to vote on this issue, there would be a huge majority against the irresponsible legal expenditure and to let KZNA fight their own battles and incur their own legal budget deficit.

A third irony is that, after spending much of the press conference threatening possible legal action against unspecified individuals who are understood to the author, Ann Ashworth and possibly others, Minnaar took to NewzRoom Afrika last night to plead, “I just hope and pray that these people who are fighting in the courts only just come and sit with us, not as a whole pack, but the people behind the scenes. Let us know who you are, come and talk to us and we can resolve issues. We don’t need to go to court.”

I doubt that Minnaar is aware of the layers of hypocrisy in that statement. The CMA can withdraw their opposition at any time. Over 100 CMA members signed Power of Attorney forms and those standing for the legal and constitutional rights of CMA members against a severely compromised administration include former winners Cheryl Winn, Bruce Fordyce, Shaun Meiklejohn, Gift Kelehe and Ann Ashworth as well as Comrades medal record holders Barry Holland and Louis Massyn.

What are the possibilities of Minnaar taking the sensible step? Not good according to one insider, “Jeff is not the sharpest tool in the box and is relishing the limelight. He is not one to necessarily heed learned advice, so anything could happen.”

At times the press conference is painful to watch with Minnaar making remarks and providing answers that would make Joe Biden look lucid. Midway through answering one question he suddenly switches back to answering the previous question about the impact of Comrades issues on qualifying marathons. There is one laugh out loud moment when Minnaar seems to imply that being the CMA Chair is more stressful than being the president of South Africa, “There’s a lot of pressure because there’s thousands of people, 40,000 to 50, 000 people that rely on this association and that’s a lot of pressure. I don’t think the president has the same pressure.”

When answering some questions, it is not clear whether Minnaar is just being deliberately evasive or did not understand the question. An example was when asked specially about the results of the SGM which now allows online voting at the next AGM. It is believed that the current CMA Board are hoping for a loophole that will allow them to nullify all the results of the recent SGM.

In a blow to transparency, Minnaar stressed that everything should be done internally but said that no results of investigations would be made public. He derided those who took to social media to air complaints and issues, “If you ever have a problem with anything that the CMA does, we are here. We are open for you to sit down and talk to us and we can resolve the problem within. We don’t need to solve the problem without.”

However, the CMA has a long history of sweeping issues under the carpet. Aside from the 2023 cutoff debacle, there are many other instances of internal and external stakeholders being flat out ignored by the CMA. Over two weeks ago, attorney Mark Leathers sent a letter to the CMA regarding concerning remarks that “the 2025 race will not take place” made by KZNA President Steve Mkasi after the urgent High Court interdict. Leathers has yet to receive a reply. Long time CMA member Charles Morton also complained, “As for his ‘Open For Questions’ – I have written to the Chair of the CMA three times and not had the decency of a response.”

READ MORE: KZNA President Threatens “Race will not happen next year”

Grant Pratt provides a great summary for those that don’t want to endure 55 minutes of bumbling and babbling, “I watched it a second time, trying to grasp what Mr. Minnaar was aiming to convey. The image of a chameleon on a Smarties box comes to mind as Jeff Minnaar stumbled through the briefing. He dismissed all the concerns raised at the SGM and on social media as lies and innuendos, yet concluded by acknowledging an ongoing investigation – though he made it clear that members won’t be informed of the findings, but the door to CMA is open.”

The CMA Board continues to misread the room. They did not need to address the media. They did need to address and engage the valid concerns of their customers – the running community. The greatest threat to Comrades comes from the Board itself. The November AGM cannot come soon enough.

Afterword

I sent Jeff Minnaar a set of questions but no reply has been received at the time of publication. He did however reply after publication. My questions and Minnaar’s answers are below:

• Can you explain how the CMA defines “cyber bullying”. Cyber Bullying includes the posting of social media publications, blog posts and other online content that threatens, harasses, embarrasses or targets another person.
• On the comment, “I think it is very important that we assure the runners that the next year’s race will go as planned, despite the negative news on social media and blogs.” The only threat against next year’s race has been made by Steve Mkasi after the high court hearing. Can you confirm whether you were referring to Mkasi or to bloggers like myself? Despite the recent negativity in the media, our focus is on ensuring that a successful race takes place next year.   
• On the comment, “We won’t allow a small group of people to destroy the race” – are you referring to internal staff and Board members or external people? I was referring to anybody who does not have the best interests of the Comrades at heart and the spirit of the race as their primary focus.
• What do you think the motive would be for those that want to “destroy the race”? I do not wish to speculate as to the motives of third persons.  
• You said that you aim to “clear all allegations of corruption, theft and fraud levelled against some of its previous and current board members and general membership. To address this pressing issue, we are considering taking legal action against the perpetrators of these acts.” Are you considering legal action against people like Mr. Ngwenya and Ms. Cools against whom a strong body of substantiated and credible evidence exists or against those who have reported on the corruption and wrongdoing?
• You mentioned that there are two sides to a story. You seem to have made up your mind on the validity of articles published on blogs, social media and podcasts. We have never spoken before but I wanted to check whether you have reached out to any other individuals who you seemed to refer to in the press conference to hear their side of the story?
• You mentioned that you would like to handle all matters internally. However, there are several cases where matters have been brought to the attention of the Board (often on multiple occasions) and nothing has been done about it. You also said that you would not be making public announcements on internal matters. What commitment can you make that matters will not be swept under the carpet and be handled transparently? 

The following response is to the 3 bullet points contained above:

• You will appreciate that I have only recently been appointed as Interim Chairperson of the Board and that I am seized with many issues. My primary focus is on ensuring that a successful race takes place next year.
• As the CMA Board, we are opposed to any form of corruption, theft or fraud.
• Where there is clear evidence of any transgressions, and due process has been carried out, appropriate action will be taken by the Board.
• You mentioned that you believed that the resignations were primarily due to cyber bullying – are you able to provide some clarification on how you came to this conclusion? In this regard, you may have misunderstood my answer to a question posed during the briefing yesterday. What I was intimating was that, in my view, the resignations were brought about by numerous intense pressures faced by individuals in leadership positions at the CMA. One of these pressures has been the cyber bullying that some members of the Board and members of staff have been subjected to.
• With regards the cyber bullying, do you believe this was an individual, small group of individuals or social media in general?
• Are you able to comment on the irony of calling the content on Facebook “garbage” and “fake news” but the CMA chose Facebook to host the press conference live feed? Unfortunately social media platforms such as Facebook often contain information that is untrue or malicious. Respectfully, I disagree with your suggestion that it is ironic that the press conference was broadcast using a Facebook live feed.

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