The Soweto Marathon as we know it is dead. That’s the view of several insiders who told the Sunday Times the only way to save the iconic but debt-saddled race will be to cut out the festering politics of Soweto running clubs.
The word is that potential sponsors are keen to get involved, but not while long-running battles within the township’s athletics community continue to spill into the organisation of the annual event.
The 2025 edition, staged in November, ended in debts believed to total more than R2m, including nearly R1.5m in prize money due to the top athletes. Champions Khoarahlane Seutloali of Lesotho (men) and Kenyan Margaret Jepchumba (women) are each owed R250,000.
Such was the stature of the race that Comrades queen Gerda Steyn made her debut last year, finishing third in the women’s race, only to find herself R90,000 out of pocket.
While several athletes get healthy retainers from their clubs and can withstand the non-payment, others are heavily dependent on the cash. Litigation has been threatened.
The Sunday Times understands that organisers also owe nearly R500,000 to service providers and more than R500,000 to Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) in levies and licence fees.
Those guys must have nothing to do with the organisation of the race. They can get paid for the rights, but they must sit down and shut up.
— Soweto Marathon insider
The reputation of the race, which started in 1991, has been hammered by internal issues for years.
In short, the Soweto Marathon Trust (SMT) was set up in 2012 to organise the race on behalf of the 19 Soweto clubs that own the event. But the trust’s bank account was frozen in 2023 amid allegations of unauthorised spending. Those facing accusations of financial abuse refused to co-operate with a forensic investigation.
At the same time, African Bank was keen to sponsor the race in a three-year deal, so as a stopgap measure clubs agreed to the establishment of Soweto Marathon (Pty) Ltd.
When the entity also organised the 2024 race, some questioned its authority to do so, claiming there were no financial statements and no transparency.
In 2025 Soweto clubs, by a narrow majority, agreed to create the Soweto Marathon Non-Profit Company (NPC) to arrange that year’s race, but a vocal SMT faction threatened to cancel the event and even stop runners on the route.
Organisers got a court order against the agitators, but they believe many runners were scared off, as fewer than 11,000 took part — less than half of those in 2024.
With entry fees being the biggest driver of revenue, organisers were left short. African Bank, in its last year of the sponsorship deal, apparently walked away, unwilling to remain involved until hatchets had been buried.
That, say insiders, was impossible. “There are too many egos,” said one.
The only possible path would be to follow the Cape Town Marathon and Two Oceans Marathon and employ a professional eventing company to organise the event, with the Soweto clubs receiving rights fees.
This is an international event. To get buy-in [from sponsors] you must establish processes that are not political. The clubs will remain owners, but they won’t run the race
— Insider
“I do see light at the end of the tunnel,” said CGA president Karabo Mabilo, adding the provincial body will do everything within its power to ensure the athletes receive the prize money owed to them.
To prevent a similar situation in the future, the federation is considering measures that would require organisers to provide financial security for prize money before an event is sanctioned.
Mabilo — like many others — spoke about the historical significance of the race, where the route winds past monuments and the homes of Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
Even CGA, under administration until January, had been infected by the infighting, with the federation bizarrely issuing a 2026 calendar featuring two separate dates for the Soweto Marathon in November, one by the NPC and another by the SMT.
Mabilo promised to sort that out as well.
“This is an international event. To get buy-in [from sponsors] you must establish processes that are not political. The clubs will remain owners, but they won’t run the race,” said one insider.
Another with behind-the-scenes knowledge said the infighting was not over millions of rands but for a few thousand. “It’s politics of the stomach.”
Added another: “Those guys must have nothing to do with the organisation of the race. They can get paid for the rights, but they must sit down and shut up.”
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