SA’s Greatest Olympian Walks Away

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

South Africa’s most decorated Olympian, Tatjana Smith, has decided to represent the Netherlands. One of the greatest athletes this country has ever produced believes she has a better chance of building a sustainable sporting career elsewhere.

Her decision comes against a backdrop of mounting scandals, governance failures and ongoing controversies across Minister Gayton McKenzie’s portfolio, which should have prompted action long ago. Instead, we continue to see grand promises, little accountability and a Minister who seems more interested in making headlines than addressing the problems under his watch.

The DA has raised concerns about Swimming SA for months. I wrote to the Portfolio Committee Chairperson in September requesting they be called to account. In October, they apologised for withholding Tatjana’s prize money, but this does little to address the failures that led to the situation in the first place.

In January 2025, Minister McKenzie promised to descend on Swimming SA “like a thunderstorm”. Instead, an international body provisionally suspended its president and CEO. Water polo has formed its own organisation, and swimmers selected to represent South Africa are reportedly told to pay R55,000 or lose their places. In a country already battling enormous inequality, how can we possibly justify a system that makes representing South Africa dependent on financial means rather than talent?

Swimming SA is hardly an isolated case:

• Athletics SA is under international intervention, SASCOC’s president was suspended, while both Netball SA and Karate SA face governance controversies.
• SAFA is again requesting to postpone its appearance before Parliament, while the R20 million allocated to the VAR project has yet to deliver a functioning system.
• 19 PA-linked board appointments were referred by the DA to the Public Protector, along with 3 PA members adjudicating nearly R110 million in arts funding.
• Minister McKenzie’s own NAC and NFVF board appointments ended in court intervention, resignations and dissolution, raising serious questions about his oversight.
• Questions remain over his meetings with Ticketpro’s former owner before its sale, his former Chief of Staff becoming CEO and a controversial Cricket World Cup organising committee appointment.
• Minister McKenzie spent nearly R31 million on a FIFA World Cup trip for his entourage, which has yet to be explained.

McKenzie cannot simply wash his hands of these problems. The National Sport and Recreation Act gives him intervention powers, subject to safeguards. What has he actually done?

Tatjana has given South Africa four Olympic medals. She deserves better, and so do our athletes and artists.