Heads to roll in the Comrades Marathon Association board

Heads are set to roll in the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) board if the association’s agenda for this evening’s special general meeting is anything to go by.

Matters specified in the agenda include the passing of a resolution for the removal of two board members, Zinhle Sokhela and Isaac Ngwenya.

Sokhela has been under suspension since June 28, following a social media post where (according to the meeting agenda) she purportedly encouraged volunteers to ‘rise, take action and ensure that whites are removed from the CMA board’.

The removal of Sokhela, if approved, will come with a provision that she is disqualified from ever serving as a board member of the CMA in future.

Ngwenya’s removal, if approved, will be on a provision that he, too, is disqualified from ever serving as a board member.

The call for his removal, according to the agenda, arose after he allegedly accused a senior official of recruiting too many white volunteers and that the official was trying to return the CMA to the apartheid era. He is further accused of remarking to the race organising committee members around February or March that there were ‘too many whites on the committee and that they needed to be removed’.

Racism features prominently on the agenda, and CMA chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo is expected to give a report that deals comprehensively with issues of whether there have been any other board member/s who have made racist remarks.

Ngcobo will be expected to name such member/s and detail the steps taken against them and to further record how the board, in the future, intends to deal with board members who are found guilty of racism or have made racist remarks.

Existing board members are expected to declare their opposition to any form of discrimination based on gender, race, politics, religion, or ethnicity.

A resolution will also be passed for future board nominees to pledge before being elected, that they will not be found guilty of any of the above. Another issue that the meeting will seek to address is that of the community marshall portfolio.

A resolution will be sought to appoint an independent committee to investigate the portfolio, and to report its findings to the board.

The committee will investigate allegations that some board members were involved in the ‘buying of votes’ at the last annual general meeting (AGM), and that they have bussed in community marshals to the meeting in order to bring out a vote as instructed and without having any idea what the AGM and the voting process were about.

The association will further seek to appoint an independent panel to manage the interviewing process of candidates who may apply for the race organising manager position.

It will also seek to amend the CMA constitution to allow voting virtually online or any electronic platform.