Chaos as Soweto Marathon Trust accounts are frozen

This means that the funds in those accounts cannot be accessed or utilized until the investigation is complete.

The investigation team’s task is to look into financial records, transactions, and other relevant evidence to uncover any fraudulent or criminal activities with more than R150 000 reportedly being misappropriated.

In a letter seen by SABC Sport, Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) has confirmed the initiation of the forensic investigation.

Last month, African Bank signed a multi-million sponsorship deal to support the Soweto Marathon for the next five years.

The sponsorship was intended to ensure the successful execution of the marathon event on November 5 at the FNB Stadium.

The funds from African Bank sponsorship have been frozen due to internal conflicts, which means the financial support from the bank is inaccessible and cannot be used for organizing the marathon.

The Diepkloof Athletics Club has called for the suspension of Steven Khanyile, who holds the position of CGA president and treasurer of SMT. The club is urging Khanyile to step aside from his responsibilities at both the CGA and SMT during the ongoing investigations. He has been accused of benefitting personally from the funds intended for the SMT clubs, raising suspicions of misconduct and misuse of resources.

Khanyile openly embraced the forensic audit focused on his activities, he contended that he is currently being subjected to a baseless witch hunt. He refuted all allegations of misappropriating funds from SMT. But he refuses to take the fall alone and refused to step down.

“I have nothing to hide and welcome the investigation into my financial records and to put it blatantly, I will not resign from CGA and SMT. I’m being used as a scapegoat. There are several names that should also be looked into not just me. Everyone should be investigated,” said Khanyile.

Masebe Maila, the deputy chairman of Diepkloof Athletics Club, verified his presence at the gathering held in Soweto, where representatives from the 17 SMT clubs convened with CGA to address the issue. He stated “I can indeed confirm my attendance, during which allegations were raised against Khanyile. The clubs expressed their dissatisfaction with his actions,”

A letter from Diepkloof Athletics Club to the SMT 17 club reads as follows “Mr. Khanyile colluded with the expelled Trustees to siphon trust funds on a number of occasions. As a treasurer, he received sms notifications alerting him of transactions but failed to report the same to other trustees. He allowed himself to be paid by the expelled trustees and failed to stop further transactions even though he was aware in relation to their standing with Athletics SA,” said Diepkloof Club.

CGA also confirmed to SABC Sport that they approved the move to launch the forensic investigation. “We gave the auditors the go-ahead to start the investigations. We will comment further when the investigations are concluded,” said the CGA official.