'Vanillagate' had nothing to do with Ashworth’s Comrades departure: CMA

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said on Thursday afternoon that Ann Ashworth’s departure from the organisation as race and operations manager had nothing to do with the racism saga that enveloped the organisation recently.

Procurement officer Alain Dalais will take over in an acting capacity, the CMA said in a statement.

Ashworth, who posted on social media on Wednesday evening that she had been sacked, was accused by CMA board member Zinhle Sokhela in a message posted on a WhatsApp group of trying to create a whites-only executive by signing up more voting members.

Sokhela's message, screenshots of which were shared on social media with the sender's identity hidden, read: “Guys, you can recruit as many members as possible. Our new GM has recruited as many vanilla people as possible, and as it stands we have close to 400 new members (all vanilla) who have joined and want to attend [the] AGM in November to take back the CMA board to be whites-only.”

At the CMA board meeting on Tuesday it was agreed that the constitution did not allow the executive to remove any members, but they agreed to call a special general meeting within 30 days to let members decide the issue.

CMA chair Mqondisi Ngcobo said in the statement that the interim contract with Ashworth had been set to expire on June 30.

“The so-called Vanillagate saga has no bearing on her departure,” he said.

Ashworth, asked on social media the reason for her being sacked, said it was the result of office politics.

“My job was promised to someone else months ago. That person will [assume] the [full-time] position after actively sabotaging me in the office and in the media,” she wrote.

The 2024 Comrades was run on June 9 with Gerda Steyn winning the women's race and Dutchman Piet Wiersma the men's race.