SAMKELISIWE DEJECTED AFTER DISQUALIFICATION

MBABANE – Winner of the FSRA Marathon, Samkelisiwe Tfwala was left dejected after she was stripped of the title of finishing as the first liSwati during the Imbube Marathon.

Tfwala was disqualified by the technical officials having already received the accolades of being the first liSwati woman to cross the finish line in the 42.2km. The E30 000 prize was handed over to Winile Mnisi. Tfwala was left with the accolades package including the gold medal, towel and the congratulatory card with the E30 000 cheque awarded to her teammate at the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) Mnisi. Tfwala’s brother, who also trains athlete Bongisipho Tfwala, said they were left with more questions than answers after they were made aware of the disqualification moment before the presentation and they made attempts to protest but to no avail.

Tfwala was the winner of the first edition of the Imbube Marathon in 2016 and she was recently the champion in the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) marathon that was held just before the Imbube Marathon. “We were left dejected after the outcome with the athlete having performed so well. I believe she deserved the championships and we were not given the proper right to lodge a complaint or a protest. They claim she got assistance but that was long after she had crossed the finish line,” he said.

Tfwala said they still wanted to lodge complaints or the protest and they want the disqualification to be substantiated. Athletics Eswatini (AE) Secretary Thoba Mazibuko said the results that were released were final. He said there were a lot of complaints from runners and they went through them and those who had genuine complaints were attended to and problems sorted.
Mazibuko said there were rules and regulations that needed to be followed in all races and if a runner failed to adhere, it was highly possible that he would be disqualified.

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