Five athletes who aired their concerns over the cancellation of this year’s Legends Marathon are in hot water.
Border Athletics summoned the heads of the Nedbank, Eskom, Mdantsane, Real Gijimas and Adventist running clubs to a meeting on Monday.
This was after the heads – Vuyo Kahla, Khusta Jack, Tamara Nyati, Thembela Makaula and Masibulele Tshibo – went public with their call for the doomed race not to be canned.
But this did not go down well with the athletics body, which wanted the clubs to make their stance known on the matter. The group’s leader, Jack, had made it clear several times that their views were as concerned athletes and not as representatives of their clubs.
The clubs reiterated this stance at Monday’s meeting by saying the athletes had been speaking in their personal capacities.
Eskom Running Club chairman Mphumzi Mbambisa, who was representing Kahla at the Monday meeting, said their athlete was well within his rights to voice his personal views on any athletics matter.
To this end, no action would be taken against Kahla by the club.
However, Border Athletics will press ahead with disciplinary action against the five athletes. Asked what charges the athletes would face, the federation’s chairman Alex Kambule said it was an “internal matter”.
The athletes have since labelled the actions against them by Border Athletics as a “witch-hunt” aimed at “purging” certain individuals because the federation did not share their views on the cancellation of the Legends event.
“I am inspired by courageous and fearless South Africans who by choice decided to be runners in our regions, decided to voice their hurt and disappointment of the scrapping of the Legends Marathon 2016.
“Before anything else we are South Africans and it is our right to express ourselves on societal matters without fear or favour. It is very hurting indeed but we remain hopeful,” Jack wrote on his Facebook page.
“We are runners and we will never hide that but don’t attempt to silence us because we belong to some clubs, we are not talking on their behalf, we are just exercising our freedom of expression as enshrined in the constitution and we will never be apologetic about that.
“Suk' endleleni … this is about the development of athletics in our region and beyond.”
Kambule denied there was any victimisation or censoring of the athletes for calling for Legends not to be scrapped.
One of the five athletes, who this time asked to remain anonymous for fear of further victimisation, accused Border Athletics of targeting them due to their views on the federation. He said the Legends debacle was just an excuse.
“We have raised issues about Border Athletics and its failures, but not with malice but with the intention of improving athletics in our region,” he said.
“There is a cross-country event in Port Elizabeth this weekend but Border Athletics runners will be a no-show because the association says it doesn’t have money.” — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
Athletes in hot water for Legends plea
Border Athletics summoned the heads of the Nedbank, Eskom, Mdantsane, Real Gijimas and Adventist running clubs to a meeting on Monday.
This was after the heads – Vuyo Kahla, Khusta Jack, Tamara Nyati, Thembela Makaula and Masibulele Tshibo – went public with their call for the doomed race not to be canned.
But this did not go down well with the athletics body, which wanted the clubs to make their stance known on the matter. The group’s leader, Jack, had made it clear several times that their views were as concerned athletes and not as representatives of their clubs.
The clubs reiterated this stance at Monday’s meeting by saying the athletes had been speaking in their personal capacities.
Eskom Running Club chairman Mphumzi Mbambisa, who was representing Kahla at the Monday meeting, said their athlete was well within his rights to voice his personal views on any athletics matter.
To this end, no action would be taken against Kahla by the club.
However, Border Athletics will press ahead with disciplinary action against the five athletes. Asked what charges the athletes would face, the federation’s chairman Alex Kambule said it was an “internal matter”.
The athletes have since labelled the actions against them by Border Athletics as a “witch-hunt” aimed at “purging” certain individuals because the federation did not share their views on the cancellation of the Legends event.
“I am inspired by courageous and fearless South Africans who by choice decided to be runners in our regions, decided to voice their hurt and disappointment of the scrapping of the Legends Marathon 2016.
“Before anything else we are South Africans and it is our right to express ourselves on societal matters without fear or favour. It is very hurting indeed but we remain hopeful,” Jack wrote on his Facebook page.
“We are runners and we will never hide that but don’t attempt to silence us because we belong to some clubs, we are not talking on their behalf, we are just exercising our freedom of expression as enshrined in the constitution and we will never be apologetic about that.
“Suk' endleleni … this is about the development of athletics in our region and beyond.”
Kambule denied there was any victimisation or censoring of the athletes for calling for Legends not to be scrapped.
One of the five athletes, who this time asked to remain anonymous for fear of further victimisation, accused Border Athletics of targeting them due to their views on the federation. He said the Legends debacle was just an excuse.
“We have raised issues about Border Athletics and its failures, but not with malice but with the intention of improving athletics in our region,” he said.
“There is a cross-country event in Port Elizabeth this weekend but Border Athletics runners will be a no-show because the association says it doesn’t have money.” — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
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