My articles seem to be producing a violent slow burn, delayed reaction amongst the miscreants in running administration. Toni Cavanagh took five months to respond to my article exposing her as a liar who inflated both her running pedigree and business experience. And now KZNA President Steve Mkasi, long accused of being ‘slow on the uptake’ by detractors, has decided that an article I wrote about him in November 2024 requires legal attention.
The article in question is “Time for Mkasi to “Pay Back the Money” to KZNA?” . Whilst the steel industry is suffering in South Africa, the irony industry is flourishing with Mkasi and his KZNA minions providing one of the richest veins to be mined.
READ MORE: Time for Mkasi to “Pay Back the Money” to KZNA?
My article begins, “Whilst KZNA President, Steve Mkasi, has criticised a large group of concerned CMA Members from going to court to protect their democratic rights, Mkasi himself has a long history of litigation.” True to form, Mkasi has once again gone the legal route. Thanks for proving the point Steve!
Mkasi and his KZNA crew continue to publicly lament when their members and stakeholders take them to court to address constitutional violations and general lowbrow shenanigans. Yet, just like due process with KZNA, the rules apply to everyone else and not to Mkasi. Mkasi has such a long losing streak in the courts that there is no appropriate sports team to compare him with. In even more irony, Mkasi (although not practising) holds a master’s degree in law from Unisa and should know better than to enter into unwinnable litigation.
Here’s a link to the Mkasi’s lawyer’s letter to me: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mS4OpzodX0u7apA_1uEyf2osh5VdkDbw/view?usp=sharing
My supposedly defamatory article deals with one of his many court losses in 2015 where Mkasi, via his club Phuma AC, took KZNA to court (more irony here) and lost resulting in a costs order of R386,000 which has never been paid. The lack of payment is not in question – even Mkasi acknowledges this.
The article also details how Mkasi cheated at Two Oceans by allowing another Phuma athlete to run in his number. He also appears to have used his position as a Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board member to bully a Comrades staff member in this saga. From my article:
According to a KZNA source familiar with the incident, “In the immediate aftermath of the Two Oceans cheating saga Steve came up with at least three different versions as to how his race number just happened to find its way onto another Phuma athlete, who had never even entered Two Oceans, but nonetheless travelled to Cape Town. After arriving at Cape Town International, he [Mkasi’s clubmate] went to the hotel at which the then CMA Marketing Manager was staying and was ordered to allow the Phuma athlete to share his room*. He [Mkasi] eventually settled on a version in which his (Steve’s) wife collected the club’s race numbers and must have accidentally handed Steve’s race number to the athlete in question (i.e. the one who had not even entered the race, so had no reason whatsoever to have collected a race number or to even have been in CT in the first place).”
Mkasi does not dispute that he cheated at Two Oceans nor that a court case that he was party to instituting resulted in a costs order of R386,000 which is still owing. His allegation of defamation appears to be a fixation on the minutia of legal terminology and definitions. Namely that he was just the representative of the club he founded, Phuma AC, and my “article’s assertion that our client is “in debt” to KZNA in the amount of R 386 000, and your insinuation that he has unlawfully refused to comply with a court order, are wholly inaccurate and amount to a wrongful and defamatory imputation.”.
You can read the article yourself to see how frivolous Mkasi’s protestations are. Add the fact that Mkasi was sent a comprehensive set of right of reply questions (which he chose not to respond to), that the actual ruling is attached within the article for everyone to read and that the article was published eight months ago, and anyone of sane mind can see Mkasi has another loser on his hands.
It bears reminding that the defence against defamation is (a) is it in the public interest and (b) is it true (or believed to be true at the time). Neither of these are in question. There is no dispute that a cost order of R386,000 was made following a court loss where Mkasi represented Phuma AC and, ten years later, the full amount is still outstanding.
An applicant in a defamation case would also need to prove that damage has occurred. Mkasi’s attorney alleges, “These statements harm our client’s dignity and reputation, particularly in light of his current position in the KZNA administration.” It is noteworthy that, although not winning the popular vote and in an AGM marred by controversy, Mkasi was recently re-elected as KZNA President.
Such is the current sordid state of athletics administration in South Africa that controversy, corruption and criminality probably help rather than hinder a candidate’s chances. Athletics Free State previously elected Steven Swarts, a convicted rapist still serving his suspended sentence, and it took a massive public effort to get Swarts suspended from his position. In the recent Athletics South Africa (ASA) election, James Moloi was re-elected as president despite managing to get ASA de-registered with the CIPC during his reign and subsequent booze and tavern scandals have emerged.
READ MORE: Update on ASA Deregistration
What does Steve have up his sleeve?
Mkasi’s ill-advised legal action poses the question, “What is he thinking?” As with many of his previous legal missteps, I am perplexed and struggling to come up with any answers. Is it just another desperate cry for help from a fragile and bruised ego or does Steve have some masterplan up his sleeve?
An article published in November 2024 on my blog will get very little new readership unless someone spotlights it. A good way to spotlight something is to institute legal action and become another great example of the Streisand effect.
What is the Streisand Effect? Named after Barbra Streisand, the American singer and actress. In 2003, she sued a photographer to remove an aerial photo of her Malibu home from a public archive of California coastline erosion.
• Before the lawsuit, only 6 people had ever viewed the photo (and two of those were her lawyers).
• After the lawsuit hit the news, hundreds of thousands of people viewed the image online.
Her attempt to suppress the image backfired spectacularly.
One assumes and hopes that Mkasi is covering these legal costs himself and is not digging into the KZNA coffers to fight his personal battles (we asked the question and Mkasi’s attorney told us he was paying personally). Mkasi and KZNA have already racked up a bill of several hundred thousand rands in a case instituted by CMA members after KZNA, under Mkasi’s direction, tried to implement a “locals only” decree at the 11th hour before a CMA SGM in 2024. He is essentially snookered in this case as Mkasi and KZNA failed to get a legal mandate from their members to contest court action which is only allowed to happen with such consent in terms of the KZNA constitution.
READ MORE: The Idiots Guide to the Domicilium Rule (also applicable to KZNA & interim CMA Board members)
READ MORE: Lies, Damn Lies & KZN Athletics Media Statements
However, a question that does bear asking is, “Is Steve Mkasi’s re-election as KZNA President legal?” Several clubs were barred from voting at the KZNA AGM on unconstitutional technicalities and Mkasi’s KZNA attempts to remove former KZNA President Sello Mokoena from the ASA ballot list was overturned after urgent court action last month.
To be elected, Mkasi would have to be a member of a club in good standing. With Phuma AC still owing a decade long debt of R386,000 they cannot be in good standing. It’s time that someone paid their membership dues.
Afterward: A Polite Reply
Here’s the reply send by my attorney Mark Leathers. Thanks once again to Mark and the Maclaw team for the fantastic legal services that they provide which enables me to continue to expose corruption, negligence and maladministration within South African road running and hold those in powerful positions accountable without being bullied into silence.
Stuart
Some people are born wise,some are born otherwise !!
This is a very frivolous action. Don’t loose any sleep over it, it’s unlikely to go to court, and even if it does, it will get thrown out, with a stinging rebuke.
It is my opinion that it appears that possibly Steve Mkasi is displays bullying tendencies.
(I should be safe with that.)
“Whilst the steel industry is suffering in South Africa, the irony industry is flourishing” – top puns there Stuart!