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Own Goal Gayton

Statement by Leah Potgieter MP – DA Spokesperson on Sports, Arts and Culture:

Today, the Democratic Alliance has filed a Public Protector complaint against Gayton McKenzie, for an investigation into whether Minister Gayton McKenzie has violated his oath of office as a Cabinet Minister, benefiting his insider circle and the Patriotic Alliance party.

The DA’s complaint concerns alleged breaches of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act and the Executive Ethics Code, together with allegations of maladministration, abuse of power, improper benefit and a possible conflict between the Minister’s official responsibilities and his party-political interests.

The first complaint is about McKenzie giving key positions to PA cadres. McKenzie’s appointment of the 2025/26 Mzansi Golden Economy adjudication panel of six members, included Steve Motale, Vernon Vraagom and Francisco Tejada who were identified as active members of the Patriotic Alliance at the time.

Steve Motale was also identified as the PA’s national spokesperson. Half of the panel responsible for allocating nearly R110 million in public funding therefore consisted of active members of the Minister’s own political party.

McKenzie’s own Deputy Minister and the Department’s Director General have confirmed that Minister McKenzie personally set the requirements for the panel and made the appointments.

This means that the Minister determined the rules, selected the panel and appointed active members of his own political party to decide how nearly R110 million would be distributed.

To this day there is no full account of where this R110 million went.

This process stripped some of South Africa’s most important cultural festivals of their funding.

The R110 million fund was established on paper to create opportunities for artists and grow the creative economy, but appears to have created opportunities for the Patriotic Alliance, allegedly.

The second major part of our complaint concerns the Minister’s almost R31 million FIFA World Cup spending including R7.9 million for official travel – this is a highly suspicious amount to have spent on just 18 people traveling from South Africa to the Americas on one trip.

The Minister’s personal travel costs alone amounted to more than R1 million, for the FIFA World Cup. This must be investigated.

While Gayton McKenzie spent R31 million on going to the World Cup, South African sporting federations are struggling to survive.

While athletes hold fundraisers to buy plane tickets, this Minister presided over a R31 million World Cup bonanza.

The pattern from Gayton McKenzie as Minister of Sports, Arts & Culture is clear:

  • The Minister controls the criteria.
  • PA members and political associates are appointed.
  • Public money is allocated.
  • Parliament asks questions.
  • The Minister evades, delays or refuses to provide the complete records.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture does not belong to Gayton McKenzie.

The Public Protector is now empowered to investigate.

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