Dear Editor
The DA condemns Minister Gayton McKenzie’s reckless decision to cut funding to national sports federations, undermining grassroots development and threatening South Africa’s Olympic future.
The DA will move forward with an urgent oversight meeting in the Sports, Arts and Culture portfolio committee in Parliament – where Gayton McKenzie will have to come and explain his choice to strangle grassroots sport federations.
Instead of investing in proven pathways for young athletes, the Minister is diverting funds to grand vanity projects, stripping funding from federations and directing it into these larger, and less transparent projects.
The DA cautions loudly and clearly that this shift risks grand scale corruption.
Diverting grassroots money to massive vanity projects in the sports space, with expensive bids, secrecy, and confidential deal elements will risk a looting frenzy for insiders.
For sports to flourish, and for SA to remain competitive, we need grassroots sports development support – funding, capacitating and resourcing – not strangling them in favour of massive international bids, games, and races.
If these grand international sporting events could be courted for South Africa without defunding local sport there would be benefit in them. They may bring fantastic investments into South Africa, but if they defund and strangle local sport federations in the process, they are undermining and damaging local sports possible irreparably.
The damage caused by McKenzie’s defunding of local sports is already clear:
- Olympic codes like athletics and swimming face cuts of up to 60%.
- SASCOC, tasked by law to coordinate Olympic sport, has been completely defunded, despite receiving just R12 million over three years.
- Young athletes from the Cape Flats are currently stranded in Europe (Spain or Portugal according to different reports), a tragic symbol of a collapsing system.
Without functioning federations, there is no pipeline, no preparation, and no performance so McKenzie’s claim of “direct funding to athletes” is hollow.
The sports and arts communities are up in arms, and rightfully so. The allocation to this Department between the 2024/5 and 2025/6 financial years has not differed more than 1.6%, yet entities are facing cuts of 50-70%.
And to date Minister McKenzie has not furnished Parliament with the details and schedule of these cuts. He is working in private, in silence, and without oversight or transparency.
Despite repeated requests during the department’s appearance in Parliament, it remains secret. It is time for Parliament and South Africa to be apprised of these simple facts: Where is the money going?
The DA has profound concerns as Gayton McKenzie defunds sports and arts: This looks like a scheme of patronage dressed up in tracksuits.
South African sport deserves much better.
Regards
Joe McGluwa MP
DA Spokesperson on Sport, Arts and Culture