No leadership crisis in South African sports, says Minister Gayton McKenzie

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has dismissed the notion of a leadership crisis in South African sports, despite evidence indicating otherwise. 

McKenzie and his deputy, Peace Mabe, convened a rare press conference in Pretoria on Tuesday, 4 November where they shared their vision for the portfolio and answered questions about a number of burning issues, including the poor state of sports administration in South Africa.  

Responding to a Daily Maverick question about the concerning state of governance in South African sports federations, McKenzie cited the flourishing South African Rugby Union under its president, Mark Alexander, as well as the stability of Cricket South Africa under president Rihan Richards.  

“Even Sascoc. [President] Barry Hendricks and his people took over a rotting Sascoc, where I’m told people were buying Rolls-Royces with the money of Sascoc. So, I must give it to Sascoc for turning it around, even though it’s sometimes too slow for my liking. But they are honest people,” McKenzie told journalists.

Presidential troubles

Just recently, Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced its intention to suspend president James Moloi for allegedly misusing the federation’s credit cards. Moloi is said to have used the card at entertainment venues, and also allegedly flew his two girlfriends to different international events with ASA money. 

Former Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane remains suspended from the sport, pending an investigation by World Netball. She is under the spotlight for alleged misconduct and financial maladministration while at the helm. 

A year ago, South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan was arrested after being charged with fraud. He was nabbed alongside the federation’s financial officer, Gronie Hluyo, and PR company owner Trevor Neethling. 

At the heart of the matter is that Jordaan allegedly used Safa funds for his own benefit, including recruiting Neethling’s Grit Communications to clean up his image ahead of the 2018 Safa elections. Jordaan had been accused of rape by former ANC member of Parliament Jennifer Ferguson the year before, an assault that allegedly took place in the early 1990s. 

The issues at Swimming South Africa have also been covered extensively by this publication. 

His hands are tied

But McKenzie says there’s nothing much he can do, as international federations across various sporting codes frown upon government intervention. 

“Our Constitution says you are innocent until proven guilty. That’s what our Constitution says. That’s not McKenzie,” the minister stated. 

“Fifa also looks at the Constitution. They don’t look at my feelings or your feelings. Not only have they kept Danny Jordaan, but they promoted him to another committee of Fifa. That must tell you what Fifa thinks of Danny Jordaan. What I think or what you think is irrelevant,” McKenzie continued.

In October, Jordaan – despite the dark cloud hanging over the Safa president of more than a decade – was appointed to the Fifa’s men’s national teams competitions committee. It’s a key committee within the global governing body’s structures as it oversees all Fifa men’s tournaments.  

“I know [Safa] is a national asset and many of us complain. But I’m just giving you the raw facts,” McKenzie said. “Do I think there’s a crisis? I don’t think there’s a crisis. There’s a rise in our sports. We’ve got very good people running our sports.”

Beating the odds 

However, in most cases, South African athletes shine on the global stage in spite of administrative ineptitude. 

As an example, Amajita – South Africa’s U-20 men’s soccer side – recently reached the U-20 World Cup round of 16. They did this without adequate preparation, including missing pre-tournament friendlies – which their rivals had a chance to play. If they had been properly prepared, how much further would they have gone in the tournament?

Safa’s bosses will say it is because they have no money to facilitate such that they cannot make it happen, that sponsors shun them and run to rugby and cricket – sports that were the pride of the apartheid government. 

But it’s not easy for corporates to choose to associate their brands with a federation whose president and chief of finance are in and out of court for alleged fraud.  

Money, money, money

Nevertheless, McKenzie announced that his department will give Safa R5-million to help Bafana Bafana prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in December, as well as the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada. 

McKenzie also announced that Banyana Banyana will receive R1-million for reaching Wafcon and Amajita will receive the same amount for winning the U-20 Afcon and reaching the World Cup. 

The Proteas Women players – who recently lost their maiden 50-over World Cup final to India – will also be granted R1-million to share among themselves. As will the Springbok Women, who rewrote history at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

The U-17 boys’ soccer team, which is currently competing at the World Cup in Qatar, will receive R500,000 from the Department of Sport.  

Safa favoured

This is the second time in almost a year that the department has given money to Safa. In December, McKenzie’s portfolio approved a R5-million advance for Safa from its annual government grant.

At that time, the soccer federation’s employees were facing a bleak Christmas since Safa had no money to pay them. From Bafana Bafana, to Banyana Banyana and their respective technical teams. McKenzie stepped up to bail them out. 

“They paid the salaries and everybody was happy. We lost nobody. So, I didn’t pump taxpayers’ money [into Safa] without cause. Lydia (Monyepao), the Safa CEO, then sent me the proof that they had paid the players,” McKenzie said. 

“There’s no cent of this government that Safa will embezzle. If you can show me as a journalist that they have embezzled money, trust me, I will stop giving them money.”

Mokoena suspension saga

McKenzie also addressed “Teboho Mokoena-gate”, an incident which almost cost Bafana Bafana a place at their first World Cup appearance since 2010. 

The senior men’s soccer side erred and played Mokoena in their match against their neighbours, which they won 2-0 as Mokoena pulled the strings in midfield. 

The Mamelodi Sundowns star was supposed to be serving an automatic one-match suspension after accumulating two yellow cards in previous qualifiers, against Benin in 2023 and Zimbabwe in mid-2024. But Safa missed this in a “schoolboy” administrative blunder.

McKenzie said his department was satisfied with Safa’s explanation that team manager Vincent Tseka was away from the field when Mokoena received the second yellow. 

Despite being responsible for this crucial task, he had supposedly stepped away from the live match to “get ice” for the team.

Safa cited this as an example of how underresourced it is due to financial constraints, even though its national executive committee is bursting at the seams from being bloated. DM