If you were a runner getting a text on Sunday that an event you had prepared for many weeks to participate in was cancelled at the last minute, you could justifiably be angry. But it was God’s work and the organisers made the right call.
It is a rare thing to do in a world where we are increasingly doing the popular thing and not the right thing, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceOfGasant column.
Doing the right thing is becoming increasingly difficult. Doing the popular thing is easier. Doing the right thing will isolate you, and it is a lonely place.
It could not have been easy for the Cape Town Marathon organisers to call off their main event on Sunday because of dangerously high wind speeds. Runners took to social media, and it was mixed. While some understood, many felt they had wasted their money, training and time to be told at the 11th hour that the race was cancelled.
I’ve been here before. It was during the Cape Town Cycle Tour a few years ago. My brother and I walked across to the starting chute, and we could barely hold on to our bikes. Minutes later, the inevitable was confirmed: the race was called off. There was nothing for it. On that race day, behind that ill-conceived MyCiTi bus station on the Foreshore that creates the perfect channel for gale-force winds to swoop through, motorcycles were blown across the road like paper bags.
It would have been a difficult meeting with organisers, emergency services and the City of Cape Town’s risk experts. But in the end, common sense prevailed. And on Sunday, we saw a repeat of the same sound decision-making.
I feel for the runners. I don’t run. It’s not my scene. I just don’t see the point. Growing up on the Cape Flats, the only time you ran was away from a bully, a dog or if you’re old enough, the security police. So, running for fun doesn’t appeal to me. But I can see why people love it – albeit the talk of infidelity in many running circles.
Those who love the sport would have prepared meticulously; some just to finish, others for a personal best. Energy gels and outfits would have been purchased. Entry fees paid. Some would have splashed out on new running shoes (is that even advisable if you haven’t run them in?).
But, just like the organisers could not have anticipated a terror bombing at the Boston Marathon a few years ago, they could not have anticipated the weather when they chose a date a year in advance.
They have expenses like security, water points, safety officers, emergency services and logistics. And that is just the basic expenditure. There can be no refund because then the event would run at a loss.
It’s been suggested a reserve day. But this would create a double pay day for services for the organisers and more inconvenience for non-runners who have to navigate around road closures to accommodate the route.
The decision is a metaphor for something increasingly difficult to do in South Africa. That something is doing the right thing. The organisers would have had to take the reputational damage of cancelling a premier event for the city on the chin, and that would have hurt. People had come from afar to participate, and it would not have been easy to press that send button on a bulk SMS to say the race was cancelled.
But the cost of doing something irresponsible that threatened the safety or lives of runners would have been higher.
In the South African context, governance is failing because people choose to do the popular thing instead of the right thing. Who wants to be the only dissenting voice? It is a lonely place. So, instead of putting a target on your own back, you go with the flow.
But trust me when I say, the cost of not doing the right thing will eventually catch up. When you’re a leader who chooses the easy way and burdens those you lead with the wrong decision that is immoral or unethical, you break more than just trust. You break a value system, a mission statement and an ethos. And that is impossible to regain.
I heard that police body cams are going to be introduced. It was a fleeting news report on the radio. My first thought was, ah – no more bribes. But the body cams are actually essential to document incidents as they happen to enhance policing and help secure convictions. In SA, no doubt, it will also keep a close watch on corrupt cops. It sent my mind racing: let’s get body cams for politicians!
This is where we are, and it’s sad. But the decision by the organisers of Sunday’s race gave me renewed hope. There was much at stake, but there were people who did the right thing, no matter how difficult or unpopular that road less travelled was.
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Picture: City of Cape Town
