Durban - Controversial Comrades runner, Tshokela Maphori, is in hot water again - this time for allegedly snatching a pair of pink ear muffs from a 10-year-old girl’s head during Sunday’s race.
The Grade 5 pupil had bought them for the Johannesburg leg of the Justin Bieber concert with money she earned doing household chores.
On Tuesday the Daily News reported that Maphori admitted to taking a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy from a five-year-old child in Durban during the race, saying that it had been offered to him.
The Limpopo runner was going down Josiah Gumede (Old Main) Road in Pinetown, when he removed the ear muffs from Ryanne Toll’s head and placed them on his head, her angry mother said.
Maphori said on Tuesday he was still wearing the ear muffs to keep warm in the icy Limpopo winter.
“I got it from a little girl on the road. She gave it to me. It keeps my ears warm,” he said. “I have the pink thing and Mickey Mouse in my bedroom.”
Maphori said if the children wanted their stuff back, they needed to fetch them from Polokwane.
The dummy-sucking athlete also said although he had bought one of his baby pacifiers, another three were given to him along the roadside. He pocketed two and gave one to Mickey Mouse.
The dummy helped him de-stress, Maphori said.
Ryanne’s furious mother, Shireen Toll, labelled Maphori a thief and said if he did not return the ear-muffs, she would open a case of theft.
Toll, a single mother, said the ear muffs were of sentimental value.
Her only child had purchased them in Johannesburg hours before attending the Bieber concert last month.
“It cost R10. But every cent of that money my child earned. She was rewarded for chores around the house. We do not have a lot of money so every single cent counts to us,” she said.
“(Ryanne) is a Bieber fanatic. Those ear muffs reminded her of that once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing him perform live. She treasured it. It could never be replaced.”
Toll said they had gone out to watch the Comrades action for the first time ever.
“Ryanne’s teachers were taking part and we decided to go out and support them. She was so excited.”
They waited in Josiah Gumede Road in Pinetown from around 6.30am.
“There were hundreds of runners going past at around 7am. This guy - with a dummy in his mouth - came by and he waved a Mickey Mouse in Ryanne’s face. The next thing he took off her ear muffs and put them on.”
Toll said she watched him and thought he was going to return it.
“The next thing he took off with the ear muffs. I could not chase after him because there were too many runners. He disappeared within seconds into the crowd.”
She said her daughter became hysterical.
“She was inconsolable. I did not know what to do. We even got to a television set and tried to track him without success.”
Toll said seeing his picture in the Daily News on Monday afternoon was “karma”.
“You cannot do something wrong and get away with it. I instil good values in my child and teach her right from wrong. She also knows there is a consequence for every wrong action.”
Based on this, Toll said she had to practise what she preached.
“I have to make sure that this guy pays for what he has done. If I don’t, it will set a bad example for my child.”
She said her daughter vowed to “kick the man who stole her muffs”.
“She is very upset. She said he had no right to take something that did not belong to him.”
But there had been a positive side to the whole Comrades experience, Toll said.
Her daughter has vowed to tackle her first Comrades when she turns 18.
“She was so motivated by the spirit of the Comrades that she is determined to run it. That is what the Comrades is supposed to be about - not stealing and upsetting children.”
Maphori, of the Marula Marathon Club, left five-year-old Arman Moodliar of Overport bawling after he snatched his Mickey Mouse toy earlier on in the race. Arman was at 45th Cutting cheering on athletes at around 6am when Maphori took his Mickey.
His granny, Premla Moodliar, spotted a photo of Maphori in the special Comrades edition of the Daily News on Monday.
The chairman of the Comrades Marathon Association, Dave Dixon, said this type of behaviour was unprecedented in Comrades history.
“I have had to deal with cheating and this and that. But a runner stealing from a child - no that’s a first.”
He said it was not what the Comrades stood for.
“But I cannot work on press reports or hearsay,” he said.
“Once I get written representations from both the complainants, an investigation will be held by the disciplinary committee.”
He said it was difficult to speculate what penalty the runner would get if found guilty of such misconduct.
Daily News