Gauteng Athletes threaten to shut down Maile's office.
The provincial sports department has, in the past, counted the Comrades Marathon among the programmes it funds.
Brian Ntombela has written to the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation requesting transport for Comrades Marathon runners.
When more than 20,000 runners line up for the 99th Comrades Marathon on 14 June 2026, a sizeable share will come from Gauteng.
The province has long fielded the largest provincial contingent at the race. Some Gauteng runners have, in past years, made the trip to KwaZulu-Natal with help from the provincial government.
The question this report asks is a simple one that proves surprisingly hard to answer: does that help still exist, and if so, how is it accessible and at what cost to the public purse?
A documented history of support
Provincial support for Comrades runners is not a new idea. A Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation (GDSACR) presentation to Parliament's portfolio committee, a document dating to 2010 listed "Marathons (Comrades, Soweto)" among the projects under its Siyadlala mass-participation programme.
Several years later, in 2015, the department partnered with the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre to prepare a group of Gauteng marathoners for Comrades, providing sport-science testing and structured training.
What the public record does not establish is whether, and in what form, that support continues today.
The request on the table
The Public Dispatch has seen an email, dated 12 May 2026, in which Brian Ntombela who represents athletics interests in Gauteng asks the provincial department for two forms of support, he wrote.
" Athlete Transport: We respectfully request a bus to transport approximately 105 Gauteng athletes in need from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal on Friday, 12 June 2026, and back on Monday, 15 June 2026. These runners will collect their race bibs at the Durban Expo and be accommodated at the runners' village in Pietermaritzburg offered for free by the Comrades marathon organisers. The transport will ensure they arrive rested and ready for race day."
He also requested a branded support truck to assist Gauteng athletes on the route on race day.
"On-Route Support Truck: We request a branded GIG truck to provide on-route support to Gauteng athletes on race day, 14 June 2026. We will engage the Comrades Marathon Association to secure a designated spot on the route," the letter continued.
He confirmed to The Public Dispatch that he made the request.
"If the athletes are not given transport, it's going to be a problem because some of them are not working. They don't have money for transport and some don't have a place to sleep. The department must exercise Ubuntu and do what it is supposed to do. If their employees are getting paid every month, then they must do their job and assist the athletics with transport," said Ntombela.
He then warned that athletes are prepared to escalate if the department keeps ignoring them.
"If the department fails to respond we will have no choice but to shut down the MEC's office," said Ntombela.
A pattern of grievance
According to Ntombela, this was not the first time the department had failed athletes. He described a previous occasion when he requested transport to the Western Cape and the department could not assist, and another when a request for a support truck was turned down. He alleged that the department had come to serve "certain people" rather than the broader athletics community it is meant to support.