Six months after winning the Soweto Marathon (South Africa)… they still haven’t received their prize money. The athletes who reached the podium in November in this event, including the winners – Margaret Jepchumba and Joseph Seutloali –They still do not have their respective profits.
The race organization initially claimed that the delay was due to the fact that the results of the anti-doping tests were not yet known. However, the department in charge of these controls announced that these tests ended in January.
According to ‘Runners World’, The delay in payments may be due to a complex dispute over the ownership of the race, which involved both the Soweto Marathon Trust, which previously managed it, and the recently created Soweto Marathon NPC. Central Gauteng Athletics.
There are athletes who, through their representatives, have communicated that they will not compete in this event again. The winners are owed the equivalent of about $15,000, and the runners-up are owed about $7,000.
Such has been the controversy surrounding this marathon that the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture of South Africa, Gayton McKenzie, has declared in a local media that the government will temporarily take over the marathon and ensure that athletes receive their salaries. Furthermore, he does not rule out filing criminal charges against the organizers for “disappearing” and not paying the money due for the prizes.
“We can’t lose the Soweto Marathon, it’s historic, it’s a race for our people in the slums, and that’s why I’m intervening,” McKenzie said. It is not the first time that a South African marathon has not paid its prizes: It already happened with the test held in Mpumalanga in 2024, whose winners are still waiting for their cash prize.
