Soweto Marathon: winners still unpaid nearly half a year later

On 29 November 2025, the Soweto Marathon, also known as the “People’s Race” took place. A number of elite athletes participated in the coveted event last year, and those who ran fast enough to podium would have received a welcome sum of money alongside their medal.

However, it is now April 2026, and the money has still not been paid to those runners.

Road running queen Gerda Steyn, who finished third in the race, confirmed on Metro FM in April that she had still not been paid. But the issue had already been brought to the public months before.

“Sadly, I have not received the prize money as yet,” Steyn told Metro FM. “There is very little communication to us athletes. So, it is really so, so disappointing.

“It is not right, it should not be allowed in any sport event to just leave the athletes without the prize money that was promised before the race.

“Training towards the Soweto Marathon, it is not just the loss of prize money, but it’s also the loss of making income in other places. I had to say no to various other races around the world to focus on the Soweto Marathon but then walk away with nothing to show for it, even though I finished on the podiums.”

In January, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported that Jabu Mbuli, spokesperson for the race organiser the Soweto Marathon Non-Profit Company (NPC) attributed the delay in payment to outstanding doping test results.

Prize money is typically not processed until the doping results have been finalised, Mbuli told the SABC.

“We cannot process payments until the results are officially released to us,” said Mbuli. “The delay is not on our part but due to the outstanding doping results.”

According to Mandla Radebe, general manager of Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA), athletes must receive their prize money within 14 days after the race or as the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (Saids) results are announced.

“Are you kidding me? They still haven’t been paid?” was chief executive of Saids Khalid Galant’s response when Daily Maverick called to confirm.

“They used us as an excuse about a month ago, and they told everyone we hadn’t given them the results. We gave them the results in mid-January.”

Because the results have been finalised and athletes still have not been paid, the NPC is deemed non-compliant, Radebe told Daily Maverick.

The Soweto Marathon NPC did not provide comment ahead of publication. After several phone calls and an email, Daily Maverick got a hold of George Sekano at the NPC, but Sekano referred Daily Maverick to their spokesperson Jabu Mbuli, who did not respond at the time of publication.

‘It’s really disappointing’

Onalenna Khonkhobe, who came third in the race, has also not received his money. According to his coach Pio Mpolokeng.

Khonkhobe is a well-known South African long-distance runner. He won both the Two Oceans Marathon and Soweto Marathon in 2024, and placed second in this year’s Two Oceans Marathon two weeks ago.

Mpolokeng told Daily Maverick they haven’t a clue what is going on. Before the race, Mpolokeng said there was constant communication, but after the runners were due their money it went radio silent.

“The only thing we know, Soweto [Marathon] has to pay us after the doping results, and the doping results were ± three weeks [released after the race],” said Mpolokeng. “So now, we really don’t know what’s going on. And then they don’t answer our calls anymore and we don’t know who is the relevant person we have to call.”

Mpolokeng said last year, he had been in contact with Thokozani Mazibuko. Once a board member of the Soweto Marathon Trust (SMT), Mazibuko was placed on leave in late 2024, following allegations that he created a parallel company, Soweto Marathon Pty Ltd, to divert funds. Those allegations were dropped in 2025.

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However, in 2025, the Soweto Marathon Pty Ltd was not the designated race organiser; that role was instead assumed by the Soweto Marathon NPC, a newly formed entity established in 2025.

For elite athletes, preparing and running for these races is their fulltime job, and in any job, they expect to get paid.

“Any athlete and everyone when he’s working is expecting to get his payment. So, for an athlete, this is their job,” said Mpolokeng. “So it’s really, really, really disappointing.”

CGA de-sanctions race

Meanwhile, CGA has de-sanctioned the race and taken it off its calendar because of the race organiser’s non-compliance, Radebe told Daily Maverick via email correspondence.

“There is no justification of not paying the athletes and in the process contravening our rules and regulations,” said Radebe. “It’s unacceptable, hence we are taking a serious step of intervention – non-sanctioning.

“CGA has implemented a governance reset resolution, which includes the revocation of any future race applications by the current organising structure pending full compliance and accountability.”

According to Radebe, CGA has engaged directly with the organisers, requesting timelines for payment and “demanding” written commitments. CGA continues to update clubs and is monitoring the matter closely to ensure athletes get paid, he said.

“Unfortunately we have not received any response [from the organisers] other than an indication that the race organisers are engaging with their sponsor and stakeholders,” said Radebe.

The headline sponsor, African Bank, confirmed last year that the bank’s support goes directly into ensuring the smooth running of the event, including paying the winners.

Unsatisfied with the progress that has been made, Andrew Booyens wrote to CGA demanding answers.

Booyens is the coach of Lesotho’s Joseph Seutloali, who won the men’s race last year in 2:20:09, to earn R250,000.

Booyens confirmed to Daily Maverick that Seutloali has not received his money.

In the letter to CGA he requested confirmation of the entity and representatives responsible for organising and administrating the race, and a copy of the race permit and approval documentation.

“CGA should take full responsibility. A road race cannot be held without issuing a permit for the race,” Booyens told Daily Maverick. “We’ve asked CGA for all these things… they can’t produce it to us.”

When asked what documents or guarantees were required from the race organisers prior to the event being sanctioned, CGA told Daily Maverick there were no guarantees for any race organiser.

Race control fight

Last year, the Soweto Marathon was caught in a broader power struggle over who was supposed to control and run the race.

Three main players were involved including the SMT, who was historically linked to the race and claimed custodianship; CGA, the provincial body that sanctions races in the wider Gauteng region; and the Soweto Marathon NPC.

The NPC was a newly formed entity appointed to organise the 2025 race, after gaining support from nine out of 11 Soweto athletics clubs.

The conflict started when CGA relieved the Trust as the organiser of the race and approved the NPC to run the event instead.

According to reporting at the time, the Trust was removed due to financial irregularities and governance concerns. Some trustees were also reportedly expelled from athletics structures.

Of course, the Trust disputed this and maintained that it was the rightful owner of the race and its legacy.

‘Over my dead body’

The Trust’s spokesperson Stan Itshegetseng publicly threatened to stop the race: “I want to warn CGA, ASA and all the clubs registering for this race: the Soweto Marathon will not take place this year, not even on November 30. It will happen over my dead body, they’ll have to kill me first.”

CGA went to court to prevent the disruption and the Gauteng High Court granted an interdict, barring the Trust from interfering with the race.

So, the race went ahead, as planned by the NPC. But it remains unclear if this conflict is linked in any way to the athletes not being paid.

According to Radebe, based on the delayed prize money payment, it is evident that there are problems within the NPC.

In addition, Radebe said no guarantees, such as guarantees of prize money, were in place last year before the race, which means had CGA known if the NPC were struggling in any way, perhaps they might not have granted them the rightful race organisers.

This is also not the first time that prize winners have not been paid after a race. In 2024, the Mpumalanga Marathon advertised a R1-million prize purse for the winners of the 42km race.

However, a year later, City Press reported that the winners, Tadu Nare and Jobo Khatoane, had still not received their money. Consequently ASA suspended the race and another one has not yet taken place.DM