Comrades marathon donates R250 000 towards Covid-19 fight

FILE IMAGE: General views at the finish line during the 2018 Comrades Marathon on June 10, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
FILE IMAGE: General views at the finish line during the 2018 Comrades Marathon on June 10, 2018 in Durban, South Africa.
Image: Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images

In a move that will go some way to turning around the negativity from its spat with Arts and Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa a month ago, the Comrades Marathon Association has pledged R250 000 toward the Covid-19 fight.

The association announced that of the R250 000 donation, a R100 000 will go to the Solidarity Fund and R150 000 to the Gift of the Givers Foundation. 

"As the CMA, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the fight against COVID-19 through our donation to the Solidarity Fund and the Gift of the Givers Foundation. This is a token of the CMA’s appreciation and support for the hard work, determination and grit with which South Africa’s essential workers are serving the nation,”  CMA Chairperson Cheryl Winn said. ​

The CMA attracted high levels of pique from Mthethwa last month when they declared in a statement that the iconic marathon will go ahead as planned, despite the fact that the country had at that point started to aggresively put measures into place to combat the virus' spread, and was suspending and cancelling all sporting activities in the country.

“It was an irresponsible statement that was made earlier today by Comrades Marathon that they will go on like nothing has happened. We want to reiterate that nothing will go on – Comrades Marathon will never go on", Mthethwa said then.

The issue was eventually put to the rest when the Athletic South Africa (ASA) announced it will take charge of communication around the marathon.

ASA announced on Friday that that the marathon, scheduled for June 14 has officially been postponed, and that the a new date would be decided once the government had made a decision on the restrictions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

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