McKenzie’s Soweto Marathon ‘Takeover’ Move Threatens the Future of Gauteng’s Young Athletes

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Gayton McKenzie, must account for the reckless, unilateral manner in which he announced a national ‘takeover’ of the Soweto Marathon bypassing the Gauteng Provincial Government entirely, trampling on the constitutional principles of cooperative governance, and chasing headlines instead of doing the hard work of accountability.

This is confirmed in black and white by the Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC, Lebogang Maile, in his written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (Response to Question 5. SP032, dated 20 August 2026).

In that reply, MEC Maile confirms that:

1. There was no formal intergovernmental engagement, consultation, or prior notification between the National Department and the Gauteng Provincial Department before the Minister publicly announced that he was “taking over” the race, paying outstanding prize money and pursuing criminal charges against the organisers.
2. Because no consultation took place, there are no dates of engagement to record and no agreed role for the province, despite Gauteng’s own oversight mandate over Central Gauteng Athletics and provincial sporting events.
3. The MEC himself concedes the matter “would have benefitted from prior intergovernmental engagement in line with the principles of cooperative governance.
4. To date no formal request has even been received by the province setting out any expected financial contribution, legal support or administrative role meaning the Minister’s dramatic announcement came with no plan, no partners and no follow-through.

In other words, the Minister went to the Sunday newspapers before he went to the province that governs the ground the race is run on. That is not leadership. That is populism dressed up as decisive action.

Minister McKenzie is very good at announcements and very poor at accountability, he grabs a microphone, promises to pay athletes and to jail organisers, and lets the cameras roll but he does not pick up the phone to the province, he does not follow due process, and he does not put a single rand or a single legal instrument behind his words.

Section 41 of the Constitution requires the spheres of government to cooperate, consult and support one another. The Minister ignored all of it.

This is the same national department that could find R31 million to send a delegation and entertain fans at the 2026 FIFA World Cup but somehow cannot build a single functioning structure to protect the very athletes it claims to be rescuing.

Our soccer grounds and athletics facilities are crumbling. Community sports fields have no ablutions, no lighting and no maintenance. Young sportsmen and sportswomen in Gauteng and across South Africa are training on broken ground, paying for their own kit and, in the case of the Soweto Marathon, still waiting to be paid the prize money they earned with their own legs. Where was the R31 million urgency for them?

You cannot fix a governance failure with another governance failure. A real intervention would have started with the province, followed due process, secured the funding, and delivered the money into athletes’ bank accounts.

Instead, we have a Minister who wants the credit for a rescue that, on the MEC’s own admission, has no agreed plan, no provincial role, and no formal request for support. That is grandstanding, and our young athletes cannot eat grandstanding.

ActionSA Gauteng Powerhouse: Focused initially on Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Tshwane.