The Comrades Marathon between Pietermaritzburg and Durban is still on track despite threats by KwaZulu-Natal members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to disrupt the event, Athletics South Africa (ASA) said on Friday.
”I spoke to Cosatu president Willie Madisha on Thursday and there will be no disruptions at all … this thing is not going to happen,” ASA president Leonard Chuene said.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal, Zet Luzipho, said their members would join the Comrades Marathon if there was still no agreement reached between the government and public-service unions.
On Friday Morning, he repeated his statement to the South African Press Association (Sapa), saying ”we will picket and run along the same route as the Comrades Marathon participants”.
Luzipho said there was no reason at all for Cosatu members not to join the Comrades because the ”word Comrade talks about solidarity”.
”We therefore expect those participants to stand in the true spirit of comrades and support striking public servants.
”If Comrades cannot support workers then they should not be called Comrades Marathon participants at all.”
National spokesperson for Cosatu Patrick Craven earlier said ”Cosatu will support lawful and peaceful protests including at the Comrades Marathon because the strike is a dispute in which everyone has an interest”.
But when Sapa told him what ASA president Leonard Chuene said, he said he would comment later.
Asked for comment, Comrades Marathon Association general manager Gary Boshoff referred all queries to ASA.
About 11 000 runners have signed up for Sunday’s race. — Sapa