ActionSA can reveal that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture spent almost R31 million on its delegation and associated programmes linked to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to Minister Gayton McKenzie’s parliamentary reply, this included international travel, accommodation, hospitality suites, match tickets, an exhibition match and other nation-branding initiatives.
While promoting South Africa abroad has its place, taxpayers are entitled to ask whether R31 million represents value for money when communities across the country lack basic sporting facilities and young South Africans are denied opportunities because of crumbling infrastructure.
Similarly, our national teams remain underfunded, which affects our international performance and often excludes our participation on the international stage whilst a Minister spends millions on travel and nation-branding initiatives.
Even more concerning is Minister McKenzie’s admission that he cannot disclose what he personally cost the taxpayer because his individual expenses have not yet been separated from the delegation’s total expenditure. South Africans are asked to accept a single lump-sum figure, with promises that the details will follow later. A Minister who cannot account for his own spending is a Minister failing in his duty to be held accountable.
This is precisely the culture that ActionSA’s Enhanced Cabinet Perks Cut Bill – tabled in May last year – seeks to end. Public representatives must be fully transparent about every rand spent on ministerial travel, accommodation, hospitality and other taxpayer-funded benefits.
Nation branding cannot become a blank cheque for excessive government spending. Every rand spent on luxury travel and hospitality is a rand not invested in sports fields, community facilities and opportunities for young South Africans.
ActionSA Key Pillar: Obsession with Rule of Law.
Devil Chick
Finland: You have two cows. They are more likely than your entire country to commit a crime.
Intimidating Presence
So Van is in a bar in London with a Frenchman and an Italian. They are boasting of their sexual prowess.
The Frenchman says \”When I pleasure my mistress, I tickle her nipples with a feather, and she floats an inch above the bed in bliss\”.
The Italian, not to be outdone, says \”When I make love to my girlfriend, I lick amaretto liqueur from her navel. She floats a foot above the bed in delight\”.
Van says \”Ya, well, er… When I screw my wife, I wipe my dick on the curtains afterwards, and let me tell you man, she hits the fuckin\’ roof!\”