KZN Athletics is being accused of wanting to extort money from East Coast Radio (ECR) by demanding a share of proceeds from the upcoming Big Walk event taking place next Sunday.
The athletics body has called the event illegal and discouraged citizens from participating, saying they would not be safe. It raised doubts on the availability of insurance should there be serious incidents.
But ECR has hit back by issuing the athletics body with a legal notice and the event will go ahead as planned.
The ECR Big Walk has been around for at least 19 years. Participants have an option between 5km and 10km routes which start at uShaka Marine, continue past Suncoast and finish at the Moses Mabhida People's Park.
KZN Athletics vice-president Mandla Mngomezulu said the organisation was the sole administrator and controller of athletics in the province. Their definition of “athletics” included events such as track and field, road running, race walking, cross country, trail and mountain running. Therefore, ECR’s Big Walk fell within those categories and “ought to be sanctioned”.
Sanctioned events are expected to follow prescribed safety protocols such as the appointment of safety officers, proper route measurements and they have to obtain risk categorisation. Licensed athletes from these events are covered by Athletics South Africa (ASA) insurance and all proceeds made benefit the sport.
“All of the above ensure integrity of the sport as the federation is there monitoring the event and compliance with the rules,” said Mngomezulu.
He alleged that KZN Athletics had on numerous occasions made efforts to inform ECR Big Walk organisers about athletics protocol and the need for the event to be sanctioned without success. He said that their attempts to assist the event to be compliant had failed.
“KZN Athletics is unable to guarantee the safety of the athletes or participants on the day. In our view, the event is an illegal event that ought to be stopped.”
Mngomezulu highlighted that clause 4.17 of the ASA Constitution stated that "no registered athlete will be allowed to participate in any competition not approved by ASA or any of its members".
“KZNA has not approved this event, neither has ASA, therefore we appeal to our members, athletes and clubs not to participate in this event. Under the circumstances we would not recommend to any member of the public including the corporate to participate or support it in any form since this event is not sanctioned by any relevant athletic body and it has refused, undermined, and neglected to work with the KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, he said.
Boni Mchunu, East Coast Radio’s managing director, told the Sunday Tribune that the Big Walk was not an athletic or competitive event because it was not timed and the results cannot be used as a qualifier for any race. She said no licensing is required since it was a family event with children and elders.
“Its sole purpose is to get KZN families to experience KZN in a fun and healthy way and to showcase the beach promenade of the province. Each year, we work with different partners to deliver a tremendous event for KZN families, young and old, which culminates in an unforgettable family experience on the day. For the past 10 years we have comfortably had about 30 000 participants attend the event.”
Mchunu said they had been supported by eThekwini Municipality, Metro Police, SAPS, the municipal events office as well as the Department of Sports and Recreation every year the event was hosted.
“Each year we comply by covering all logistics requirements by meeting with the city, upon approval by the eThekwini only then we start planning for the event.”
She said that on March 2, a meeting was arranged between KZN Athletics and event organisers to discuss matters of compliance, however, a KZN Athletics representative was a no-show.
“Our understanding is that they want a significant amount of fees to be paid to their institution. Based on legislation there is no requirement for ECR to pay any of the fees as the event is not required to be sanctioned. Even if the event was to be sanctioned by KZNA, they don’t play an active role in the event.
“However, as ECR we have taken our own public liability event insurance to protect all participants should there be any incidents. Since this is not a race and not a sanctioned event, ECR has no obligation to pay any proceeds to KZNA. As legislatively not required,” said Mchunu.
ECR is awaiting a response to the legal notice sent to KZN Athletics on Friday.
“We are ready and looking forward to hosting a successful and safe event for KZN families,” she said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE