Overview: In a recent article, I provided well substantiated evidence about how Rowyn James facilitated highly irregular “Management Fee” payments to finish line volunteer Chris Lombard (who was also the seconder on James’ CMA Board nomination form). This follow-on article provides details of exactly how the allegedly fraudulent payments were done and how finish line casual labourers were exploited.
After allegations of fraudulent payments surfaced, Rowyn James had a conversation with former Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Vice Chair and current Head of the Finance Committee, Les Burnard. In the conversation, James attempted to provide an explanation for the irregular “Management Fee” payments to volunteer Chris Lombard.
READ MORE: Systemic Corruption at Comrades: Former Manager made Irregular Payments & Assaulted Comrades Legend
James claimed that the payments to Lombard were ‘approved by the Board in 2018’. This was categorically denied by Cheryl Winn, the CMA Chairperson at the time. Board and Finance Committee minutes from 2018 have been checked and there is no record of any approval to pay Lombard. There is also no one I have spoken to within the CMA leadership structures who recalls any discussion about paying Lombard.
The “Management Fee” payments to Lombard, a volunteer on the Race Organising Committee (ROC), are highly irregular as the Comrades race is largely organised on a culture of volunteerism which is done without remuneration (other than stipends and covering of travel costs where a personal vehicle is used). I have confirmed with multiple ROC members that they receive no financial reward for their time and service. It has also been explicitly confirmed with Lombard’s finish line convenor predecessor, Jeff Minnaar (who is also the interim CMA Chair), and with Lombard’s successor, Tonya Swiegers, that they have received no remuneration for their volunteer work.
In addition, Lombard was a central figure in the deplorable “Vote Right, Vote White” movement circa 2012. As such, it is highly unlikely that the CMA Board (which has many members who were directly impacted by this racist movement) would ever have explicitly approved any payments to Lombard.
In subsequent conversations, James has doubled-down on what appears to be a blatant lie or misrepresentation of the truth by trying to position the irregular payments as compensation for ‘loss of earnings’ to Lombard, (who would have essentially been working full time on the finish line for 3-4 weeks) as an inducement for Lombard to take over finish line duties from Jeff Minnaar who had decided to retire from volunteering. Lombard was apparently retired from traditional work at the time but owned an events management company. However, no other volunteers have ever received a ‘loss of earnings’ payment – to do so would require breaking decades of protocol and formal Board and Finance Committee approval which was never requested.
Tonya Swiegers, who stepped in after Lombard’s resignation in November 2023 and the first female finish line convenor at Comrades, took three weeks of unpaid leave from her day job ahead of the 2024 event and received no compensation for her sacrifice. In the unlikely event that the “Management Fee” payments to Lombard were legitimate, failing to equally compensate a female replacement would be blatant sexism. It bears mention that Swiegers served as 2IC to Lombard at the finish venue for the 2022 and 2023 events and received absolutely no compensation for her efforts, despite using all her annual leave for the task. James and Lombard deliberately hid the payments to Lombard to the exclusion of Swiegers.
In 2018 the regular practice was to approve budget amounts for specific race functions like ‘casual labour at the finish venue’ and then cash payments were made and offset against this budget. Whilst there are some controls in place, the potential for exploitation with large cash transactions has been covered in detail in the articles I wrote about how the community marshals portfolio has been abused.
READ MORE: How They Captured Comrades
READ MORE: Why Ashworth was Fired Part II: Cash and Carry On Regardless
Ahead of the 2018 event, Rowyn James asked for a budget to be approved for the payment of casual labour at the finish venue. This was approved (the figure is understood to have been around R100,000). Importantly, the following explanation was included in the comments column of the accounting system, “6-8 hours Monday-Friday”. There was no mention whatsoever of a management fee for loss of earnings for Lombard (had this been included it would have been rejected).
The casual labourers were “paid a pittance” and the remaining funds were used to pay Lombard a “Management Fee”. As there was never any approval or authority given by the Board, Finance Committee or anyone else for James to pay a volunteer like Lombard, James clearly manipulated the system and misrepresented the original budget approval for ‘finish line wages’.
There was no approval for a ‘loss of earning’ payment (as claimed by James) and the intention to pay Lombard was never explained to the Board or to the Finance Committee. The payments from James to Lombard occurred between 2018 and 2023, ending when James ‘resigned’ his position as Race Manager after the fallout from the cutoff and safety debacles at the 2023 Comrades. Whilst officially James resigned, it is common knowledge that he was essentially dismissed (albeit with a golden handshake) and, shortly thereafter, Lombard noisily resigned his volunteer position on the ROC in protest.
The secret and well-hidden payments to Lombard were only discovered after James had left the employment of the CMA. When they were uncovered, Mqondisi Ngcobo (then the CMA Chair) and Les Burnard considered them to be irregular and discussed whether to pursue legal action against James. The matter was taken to the Board at a meeting on 10 October 2023 but eventually the Board decided not to press charges because of the legal costs involved, the potential damage to the CMA’s reputation and that James had already left the employment of the CMA.
Lest there still be any doubt, Cheryl Winn provides unequivocal comment on James’ deceit, “I can categorically confirm that during the 5 years that I served as Vice Chair [2013 – 2018] and 4 years as Chair of CMA [2018 – 2021] at no stage did the CMA Board ever approve the payment of either a management fee or loss of earnings fee to any member of the Race Organising Committee, which by definition consists of volunteers. In particular, in 2018 which is the year in which it has been alleged that the Board approved such payment as part of the budget, it was clearly misrepresented as it was itemised in the 2018 budget as Wages (for casual workers who provide labour to construct the finish), with the following explanation in the Comments Column: 6-8 hours Monday-Friday. There was no mention whatsoever of a management fee for loss of earnings.”
The contents of this article have been read by Ngcobo and Burnard, both of whom have provided minor corrections to details to ensure the accuracy of this account. The chain of events above was also provided to the interim CMA Chair and CMA management staff who have not contradicted anything in this account. James and Lombard where both approached for comment but have declined to reply.
With the “Vote Right, Vote White” racial cloud hanging over Lombard’s head, further scrutiny should be placed on the treatment of casual labourers at the finish line. Whilst the Board do not typically get involved in operational matters at this level, the Race and Operations Manager (ROM) would.
I chatted to James’ successor and now former ROM Ann Ashworth about the situation when she arrived at Comrades. She recalled that she had three major concerns with how the finish line workers were being paid and treated: (1) they were being paid, at best, just above minimum wage, (2) large amounts of cash were being used which provides a security risk, traceability challenges and the potential for abuse, and (3) the living conditions for the workers who live at the finish venue for a month.
During her short stint at Comrades, Ashworth put in various controls to prevent the misappropriation of funds via cash payments and the finish line wage budget was no exception, “Wages are paid to the 10 guys sourced by Tonya [Swiegers] to do the manual labour. To mitigate the risk of hidden payments, Tonya and I agreed to pay wages via e-wallet this year. She was happier with that rather than taking responsibility for +/- R100k in cash.”
Ashworth also mentioned that when she saw what they were being paid she was severely concerned that they were being exploited, “It would seem that the guys got paid far less previously [prior to the 2024 event] because Chris [Lombard] took part of the budgeted amount for wages. But in my opinion what the labourers were being paid was criminal and, at best, just above the minimum wage required.”
Ashworth was forthright with her opinion on James’ explanations for the irregular payments, “It’s complete rubbish. Les, Mqondisi and I all know it and we all discussed how Rowyn hid it from the Board, the office and his 2IC. We all considered it to be fraud. Alain Dalais was also made aware of the unauthorised payments.”
As for the arrangement between James and Lombard, “If Chris wanted to take part of the wages he easily could have. I don’t think Rowyn ever put in any checks or balances. So if the budgeted amount for wages was say R70,000 then Chris used the full amount, paying the manual labourers a pittance and pocketing the rest. What I don’t know is how that was recorded in the books. Because there would have been a reconciliation of all amounts paid at the end – how was the +/- R100,000 spent plus receipts. I can only guess that Rowyn and Chris agreed on the fee for Chris and then signed off on that reconciliation. But what that means is that they both stole from the labourers and paid a pittance.”
Ashworth also felt that the living conditions for the finish line workers were unacceptable and raised a motivation for them to have a special ‘Park Home’ hired. Once this was approved, their ‘Park Home’ living area was erected and shade cloth was put up around the homes to give them some extra privacy.
Former Chair Ngcobo confirmed Ashworth’s account of events, “Ann did raise her concerns with regards to the working (living conditions) of the casual workers with the Chair and Vice Chair and suggested some improvements. Her proposals were taken to the Finance Committee and were approved. Furthermore, the Chair of Finance (Les Burnard) and the ROM (Ann Ashworth) proposed an introduction of financial controls that involved minimising the amount of cash that was being carried (including the “float” that was used to pay casual workers). These were also approved, including payment of Community Marshals via EFT or eWallet which proved to be a challenge due to practicalities.”
Once again it appears that everyone is worse off with Ashworth’s departure from Comrades except the corrupt and the compromised. A coherent reason for Ashworth’s contract being cancelled has yet to be provided by the CMA.
James, who has a strong and gregarious personality, remains popular with many members of the ROC as well as with many members of the media but is a divisive figure amongst the distance running community after the 2023 cutoff debacle which robbed several hundred runners of a medal and subsequent fallout when he derogatorily referred to slower runners as ‘joggers’. Whether he had enough support to win a Board seat is now a moot point as he withdrew his Board nomination at the 11th hour.
The final list of candidates released yesterday afternoon includes 14 names. With seven out of nine elected Board positions available at the 2024 CMA AGM, this appears to be a watershed moment in Comrades’ 104-year-old history. The fate of the largest and oldest ultra marathon on the planet rests in the hands of the 1,200 CMA Members who will cast their votes on the 30th of November.
Afterword
The deadline for CMA members in good standing to RSVP for the AGM is 16h30 on Friday 22 November. You have the option to attend and vote online or in person.
The CMA AGM will be held on Saturday 30 November starting at 10am (in person registration from 9am). Members who are attending online and want to make sure that they are available to vote on the agenda items important to them can keep in touch by joining the CMA AGM 2024 WhatsApp group using the QR code below.
There are many people in South Africa who seem to remain popular even after their many misdeeds have become apparent. It would seem perhaps Rowyn James is no different. That does not take
him into a position where he would be would be a suitable candidate to organise another comrades marathon.
I have twice sent a note to CMA asking for a “test line” to be set up to facilitate the electronic attendance and also to see how electronic verification of credentials will be carried out.
No response!
It would be a travesty to get this far and find out that people either could not hear or be heard or vote.