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Not all comrades are equal.
While South Africa celebrates the winners of this year’s Comrades Marathon, the political comrades are far from winning the country they run.
Tete Dijana won his third Comrades Marathon Down Run on Sunday, beating last year’s champion Piet Wiersma.
In the ladies’ race, Gerda Steyn won her fourth Comrades Marathon title. She finished ahead of Russia’s Alexandra Morozova, while Shelmisth Muriuki became the first Kenyan woman to make the marathon’s podium, finishing in third place.
Steyn became only the second woman, after Russian athlete Elena Nurgalieva, to win the race more than three times.
“So many things have to go right in the lead-up to the race, and in your life, to get to the point where you’re in the finishing straight, just about to win the Comrades.
“It takes so many pieces of the puzzle for that to happen, and that moment is short, but it is so meaningful and impactful. So I try and share it a bit because that moment is so big you can’t experience it all by holding it in yourself,” she said after the race.
ALSO READ: ‘It changes me’: Emotional Gerda Steyn delighted with fourth Comrades win
Comrades of the worst kind
Meanwhile, comrades of a different kind have been competing for political moemishes.
Jacob Zuma last week reminded the country that his MK party is still incredibly divided after it redeployed secretary-general Floyd Shivambu over his visit to Malawi and fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri.
EFF leader Julius Malema reacted to his former deputy’s troubles but had drama of his own. US President Donald Trump’s advisor, Pastor Mark Burns, last week called on Malema to apologise for singing “Kill the Boer.”
SA President Cyril Ramaphosa has also been battering off critics, this time of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). On Friday, he questioned whether their opposition was rooted in “greed” or “jealousy”.
Meanwhile, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe is still licking his political wounds after his son was appointed chairperson of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta board, and then dismissed amid public outcry.
