KwaZulu Natal Athletics (KZNA) decided to play a game of chicken with the Comrades Marathon and, just before impact, KZNA have realized that they are riding a bicycle and Comrades is about to hit them with a bus.
A day after the final hearing on the urgent interdict that the Comrades Members Association (CMA) raised against KZNA’s “locals only” edict, KZNA finally appeared to acquiesce with a conciliatory press release headed “KZNA Supports the Comrades Marathon and Requests Urgent Independent Mediation”.
This is a bit like an abusive partner who has spent the kids’ education fund on hookers and booze asking for marriage counselling just before the divorce papers are signed. I view this apparent backsliding from KZNA with extreme scepticism. This is why…
Firstly, anyone who is serious about conciliation will pick up the phone and communicate directly with someone from the CMA, ideally the chair. To date no one from the CMA has been contacted by anyone from KZNA. Instead, KZNA are fighting for conciliation via the media. Ironically, the release states, “KZNA will not conduct personal disputes through the media or social media.”
Tellingly, they broke this promise the following day by issuing a rather bizarre second “KZNA MEDIA STATEMENT” entitled, “What Official Status Means and What it Does Not Mean”. This release seems to suggest that a major stumbling block for the CMA going alone is that the CMA’s rules require South African runners to hold an ASA license. As discussed in this article Why the Comrades Marathon will go ahead (with or without ASA), there is a big difference between rules (CMA can simply change the “license required” rule) and laws (which everyone, including KZNA, needs to abide by).
The release appears to be grasping at straws and lists some other blockers like anti-doping measures. There is nothing preventing an unaffiliated event from using SAIDS but private labs could also be used for anti-doping controls (which would probably result in a higher standard and faster turnaround of results so the winners would get their prize money sooner).
Notably both releases are signed by “Mr. K. Buthelezi” in his elevated designation of KZNA’s “Acting President”. KZNA releases are usually signed by the uncontactable general manager Jessica Khomo. Whether president Steve Mkasi is officially suspended or has merely side-stepped aside until the furore over his street fight (and allegedly threatening to shoot a 14-year-old child) dies down is still unclear but for now he is officially taking a timeout in the naughty corner.
Buthelezi ran on the same ticket as Mkasi at the KZNA election where Mkasi snuck in through the back door with 38% of the vote after using technicities to exclude about 50 clubs from voting. However, these alliances are fragile and Buthelezi may be making a move for an elevated position within the political athletics ranks.
I strongly suspect that the latest press releases and alleged openness to mediation are purely an attempt to gain some moral high ground in the media (traditional and social). Social media is unpredictable but this is probably the last card that KZNA have to play in order to try and protect their meal ticket.
I would also view it as seditious that KZNA would propose the mediators, in this case the KZN MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture and the president of the KZN Sports Confederation. This is a bit like the abusive spouse insisting that his own relatives facilitate the marriage counselling sessions. In addition, World Athletics (and nearly all sports bodies) specifically prohibit government interference in sports.
Some people are hoping that the KZN press release signals a fresh start for KZNA but I am not prone to naïve optimism. I prefer to see real actions rather than read cheap rhetoric. Even if Steve Mkasi is out of the picture (and that is doubtful based on precedence with suspensions of athletics officials never leading to removal despite fraud, credit card misuse and even rape convictions), this is the same KZNA executive who did nothing while wasting millions of rands on a petulant, unwinnable court case.
The same KZNA executive who have flouted their own constitution and failed to get the approval of the KZN running clubs as is required when spending over R200,000 of the federation’s money. The same KZNA executive who have assisted Steve Mkasi in his election gerrymandering and manipulations. The same KZNA executive who have skilfully silenced dissenting voices within the running clubs that they are meant to serve.
One needs to remember that this entire situation is one of KZNA’s creation. The latest developments are just symptoms relating back to the “locals only” edict Steve Mkasi’s KZNA issued a few days before the groundbreaking CMA SGM to try and prevent hundreds of CMA members who had travelled from around the country to attend and vote.
KZNA lost in the courts and they lost at the CMA SGM. The final hearing on the interdict against the “locals only” edict was heard on 22 July. Judgement is reserved and all expectations are that the final judgement will be in favour of the CMA members and that a punitive costs order will be awarded. It is also possible that Steve Mkasi will face perjury charges for over a dozen contradictory statements made under oath in various affidavits.
Should a costs order be awarded, the entire fruitless “locals only” litigation is likely to result in a bill of R1.5m to R2m rand for KZNA which, based on their most recent financial statements, will bankrupt them. The crazy situation is that should CMA members vote to reaffiliate with KZNA at their 1 August SGM and pay the R3m “mafia protection racket” tax to KZNA, almost all of this money will be used to pay for the legal action against the very same CMA.
The 1 August CMA AGM should be an important catalyst in South African athletics for putting the sport back into the hands of the athletes. To me, it is clear that a divorce after years of neglect and abuse from KZNA and ASA is the best option.
There is no downside for Comrades. The race will function better without the parasitic meddling, interference, demands for VVIP access and insistence on limelight finish line access from KZNA and ASA. The CMA have committed to ring fencing an amount larger than the R3m KZNA are claiming to be spent on grass roots athletics support and development (it is understood that a figure of R4m has been touted). I would trust the CMA to spend this money far more wisely than KZNA or ASA would (where most of it is likely to fund the lifestyles of the administration and cents on the dollar will reach the actual athletes).
ASA have failed to send a team to the 50k or 100k World Championships (WC) for several years. In 2023, athletes arrived at the airport expecting to fly to India for the 50k WC only to be told that their visas and flight tickets were “not ready” (seemingly a euphemism for “someone has already spent all the money”). The CMA could guarantee funding for a full men’s and women’s team every year. The much needed refurbishment of the Kings Park athletics track is another project that CMA money could fund where KZNA money couldn’t.
Whilst the impact of the CMA secession to the wider running community is less clear, I am positive that a divorce will ultimately be positive for road running as a whole and is likely to result in much needed reform within athletics.
Athletics federations are run as quasi-dictatorships where voting is easily manipulated with the ‘one club, one vote’ system (so a club with 5 non-running members has the same power as a club with 5,000 members), an insistence on in-person meetings/voting and using attrition (meetings often last longer than 12 hours). The CMA is run as a democracy where every member has a vote and members can attend and vote in-person or online.
Both the Comrades and Two Oceans Marathons were on the brink after years of corruption, maladministration and negligence but their members have been able to quickly rescue and restore their events by voting in completely new boards. However, the same rotten apples remain entrenched at ASA and in most provincial federations.
A full, legal break from KZNA and ASA is the only option if the Ultimate Human Race wants to see another 100 years. A divorce does not mean that the door is completely closed to KZN and ASA in future. However, it does mean that visitation rights will be on the CMA’s terms, that abuse will not be tolerated and that any future engagements are mutually beneficial. For KZNA it’s time that their chickens finally came home to roost.
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Well said Stuart !! Justice and the truth will prevail,and assure a bright and prosperous future for Comrades and all athletes who subscribe to its ethos.Leon van Wyk
Thank you, Stuart, for all the detailed updates regarding the situation.
And strength to the CMA for standing up to the bully tactics of the many self obsessed “officials” feeding off the running community.
THANK YOU, Stuart for telling the truth with clarity and confiction. GREAT is your REWARD.
Thank you Stuart for explaining the simple truths in this relationship. It’s time for real and positive change.