Former Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) board members have been appointed in interim positions to help bring stability to the organisation after four board members resigned recently.
Last week, internal tensions within the CMA led to the resignation of four board members, while in June, former board member Zinhle Sokhela accused former acting race director Ann Ashworth of hiring only white candidates and subsequently resigned.
Former CMA board members with decades of experience have been appointed as interim members until the annual general meeting in November Jeff Minnaar was appointed acting chairperson while Peter Proctor has taken up the position of interim vice-chairperson.
On Monday, Minnaar said he has two months to stabilise the organisation, which he admitted has a divided board.
“We are only serving as appointees for two months to get a little bit of stability within the organisation but it (differences of opinion) is a long-term thing.
It’s something that’s going to be with us for many years and probably will always be there,” he said.
Minnaar said that it was unfortunate that within the board, people have been passing on confidential information to outsiders. He said if anyone has a problem with the CMA, the door is open to sit down and discuss the matter and resolve it within the organisation. Acting race operations manager Alain Dalais, said a lot of matters that came up at the recent special general meeting and on social media should have been dealt with internally.
“It’s a matter of people being mature and approaching the association whether it be board members or management or the office to say that they are not happy as a runner, partner or member of the public,” he said.
Minnaar said the CMA has decided to finally take a stand against cyber bullying, harassment and defamation and 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,” he said.
He assured that all the allegations brought to the CMA’s attention will be investigated internally.
Board member Isaac Ngwenya, who has been subjected to allegations of corruption, said he stayed on the board despite the unsubstantiated claims made against him and being labelled a “corrupt kleptomaniac”, so he can stand for the truth. “There is no corruption in the board because all procurement is done through one system. Any payment is accounted for in the books and no board member, all my colleagues, are not part of any procurement.”
Ngwenya said that he is saddened by the allegations, which weigh on him.
Minnaar said he believes the four board members resigned due to the derogatory statements on social media.
He said to achieve stability, board members need to put the interests of the Comrades Marathon before their own.
He said they should be removed if they are doing something wrong, but factions may vote against this to protect their allies. “That’s got to be eliminated.
When you sit at a board meeting and make decisions, you make decisions for the benefit of Comrades and not for the benefit of your friends,” said Minnaar.
He said the three board meetings that were held in the last two weeks had brought about some stability.
The Mercury