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Leathers: CMA wants to see where the money goes
The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) is not closing the door on its relationship with KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) and Athletics South Africa (ASA), but chairman Mark Leathers says the federations must show what they are bringing to the table before expecting continued financial support.
Leathers was speaking following the launch of the 2027 Comrades Marathon, which will celebrate the race’s 100th anniversary, amid an ongoing dispute over levies and the
future relationship between the CMA and the athletics federations.
He made it clear that the CMA remains willing to engage.
“100 percent,” Leathers said when asked whether the CMA would be prepared to work with KZNA if the federation came forward with a concrete development structure.
“We have already reached out to both KwaZulu-Natal and Athletics South Africa to say, guys, when you figure out what you see this new relationship being, how you see your role in this cooperative relationship going forward, please come and sit with us.
“The CMA remains committed to be involved, engaged with all stakeholders, including the federations.”
But Leathers said that cooperation could no longer be based simply on the CMA paying money to the federations.
“What our members did was they gave direction that this is not going to be a one-sided thing anymore,” he said.
“The federations need to figure out what they bring to the table.”
For Leathers, one of the most important issues is athlete development - and whether money flowing into the federations is actually reaching the athletes and programmes it is intended to support.
“And with regards to development, one of those big criteria would need to be vastly improved governance,” he said.
“The sad part is that large amounts of money have been flowing into the federations.”
Leathers then pointed to what he regarded as a particularly telling example of the problem, involving South Africa’s under-20 national team.
“For an example, the under-20s this year couldn’t be sent by Athletics South Africa to Oregon because ASA then said that it didn’t have the money to do so,” he said.
It is an example, Leathers believes, that goes to the heart of the CMA’s concerns over levies and financial contributions.
“That is the CMA’s concern: simply handing over money that then disappears and does not ultimately reach its intended purpose—the development of athletes.”
The CMA’s argument, therefore, is not that it does not want to contribute to the development of athletics. Rather, Leathers says the association wants greater certainty that its contributions are being used effectively.
The issue is particularly relevant given the substantial sums generated through the Comrades Marathon and the levies associated with runners.
Leathers said the CMA wanted a future relationship in which the federations could clearly demonstrate their value to the sport and to athletes.
The association has also been waiting for engagement with a KZNA task team established as part of the federation’s efforts to address the dispute.
Leathers said the CMA had received correspondence informing it that a task team existed and that it would make contact.
“We haven’t heard anything other than that,” he said.
For now, the CMA remains open to talks. But Leathers’ message is unequivocal: financial support cannot be a one-way street.
“The federations need to figure out what they bring to the table,” he said — and, crucially, the CMA wants to see that contribution reflected in the development of athletes and the growth of the sport.
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