The 30th edition of the Soweto Marathon is shifting to late November, a spokesperson for the event said on Thursday, contradicting claims by Soweto Marathon Trust (SMT) representatives that the country’s biggest one-day road race had been cancelled.
Jabu Mbuli said nine of 11 Soweto running clubs had agreed to administer the race through an NPO.
This came after allegations against the previous two bodies that staged the race — the SMT and then a private company that stepped in to organise the past two races in 2023 and 2024.
“We believe this [NPO] option will assist in ensuring good and proper governance and sound financial accountability,” Mbuli said.
“The appointed non-executive board of directors will comprise largely of qualified professionals and will include chartered accountants and attorneys. The athletics clubs of Soweto own this race and they will focus on the race organising committee to run this race by the people, for the people.”
SMT representatives recently claimed there would be no race this year, but Mbuli said the 2025 race would be launched this month and would take place at the end of November.
The race is normally held on the first Sunday of November.
The statement reiterated the SMT had been dysfunctional since 2023 “with two significant matters that are as yet unresolved”.
One was the outstanding audited financial statements from March 1 2020 to August 31 2023 and the other was the SMT’s “non-cooperation with the forensic investigation relating to alleged misappropriation of trust funds”.
“[Central Gauteng Athletics] and [Athletics South Africa] are aware of this and the three trustees have been expelled from athletics as a result of the allegations relating to the misappropriation of funds.
“[They] are not allowed to communicate on behalf of the race in any capacity.”
Soweto Marathon (Pty) Ltd was set up as a stopgap measure to ensure the 2023 race went ahead, but delays in sorting out problems around the trust kept the body in play for longer, leading to allegations of capture against the directors of that entity.
TimesLIVE has been told the (Pty) Ltd had to settle debts of at least a few million rand left by SMT to keep the race going.
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