Ambitious Mazibuko vows to revive CGA

As the race to succeed James Moloi as Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) president heats up, Thokozani Mazibuko and Queen Mofokeng have vowed to return the organisation to its hegemony should either of them emerge victorious on election day on Saturday. 

The electoral process for the CGA elections will be overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), who were brought in after initial elections were disrupted on March 5, necessitating a postponement  to this weekend.

Mazibuko and Mofokeng will go up against Steven Khanyile, Boyce Joko and Karabo Mabilo for the top position and a chance to lead the new executive, replacing Moloi who has since moved to head Athletics SA. 

The charismatic Mazibuko is in a relaxed mood ahead of the elections and believes that with the votes promised to him by the club, he'll be able to win and take CGA to glory like in the past. 

"We will have to take CGA to where it used to be, as a big province that's well respected in cross country, development, track and field. There's no team that would come out of this country with no CGA athlete. That's what we want to bring back," said Mazibuko.  

To get CGA to be competitive again, Mazibuko wants to form partnerships with universities in the province. 

"We have Universities in Gauteng, but Athletic Gauteng North and Potchefstroom are beating us, they are doing better because they have resources in universities, which are better equipped, better training facility and coaches," said Mazibuko. 

"If you partner with those people, you're bound to lift your province and benefit. The benefit is not only for the province; when they select a squad for the Olympics, CGA must have a stake going to represent [SA] in the Olympics. 

"We have goals... we have short, medium and long-term goals, we will be revisiting those goals we have set for ourselves from time to time," he said. 

Mofokeng, who is the only presidential nominee not part of the board, has promised to find solutions of financial security for the athletes, especially those unemployed should she take the hot seat.

"As a country, we are facing challenges, one of those being unemployment," said Mofokeng. 

"You've got athletes that are not working, is there a market to explore within the athletics fraternity to ensure these people get something to fall back on when they are not running. Even if their career, is up and running, do they have something to help them move forward? 

"You have elite runners, their job is to run, the pandemic has struck, the races are open but there are no prizes, why? The race organisers claim there are no sponsors, it might be true. What makes sponsors stop sponsoring our races. These are the things we need to look at. Probably our governing documents are not appealing to the sponsor," Mofokeng said.