--- title: "DA, EFF, ActionSA demand answers on McKenzie-linked Ticketpro deal" description: "Questions over Bakang Lethoko’s appointment as Ticketpro CEO have intensified, with opposition parties alleging political influence and calling for disclosure of ownership, funding and contracts." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY" author: "Reitumetse Pilane" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reitumetse-pilane/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-06-mckenzie-ticketpro/" published: "2026-10-06T18:39:31" updated: "2026-10-06T18:39:37" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 997 --- # DA, EFF, ActionSA demand answers on McKenzie-linked Ticketpro deal > Questions over Bakang Lethoko’s appointment as Ticketpro CEO have intensified, with opposition parties alleging political influence and calling for disclosure of ownership, funding and contracts. By Reitumetse Pilane · Published 6 October 2026, 20:39 SAST · Updated 6 October 2026, 20:39 SAST ## Key points - Opposition parties are demanding answers over the appointment of former McKenzie aide Bakang Lethoko as Ticketpro CEO. - The ticketing company, linked to Cricket South Africa and Safa, will handle potentially hundreds of millions of rands in 2027 World Cup sales. - The DA has referred alleged patronage and conflicts of interest to the Public Protector, citing 19 PA-linked appointments in two years. - The EFF and ActionSA want the deal, funding, ownership and political connections disclosed — while McKenzie denies involvement. ## Content Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie’s latest controversy centres on allegations that he appointed and benefited close associates and Patriotic Alliance members in Ticketpro’s new corporate structure, the Ticketpro Group. On Monday, Daily Maverick revealed that McKenzie’s former chief of staff and chairperson of the Formula One Bid Steering Committee, Bakang Lethoko, was named CEO of Ticketpro. The matter has raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest, political interference and a lack of transparency ahead of the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup to be hosted by South Africa. The ticketing company serves Cricket South Africa and the South African Football Association. Additionally, two other people linked to the PA serve as directors in Ticketpro’s corporate structure, the Ticketpro Group. Lethoko’s appointment comes as South Africa is about to host the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup, with hundreds of millions of rands in ticket sales at stake. [THE INVESTIGATION Gayton McKenzie-linked empowerment consortium scores Ticketpro deal ahead of 2027 Cricket World Cup October 5, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/attachments/2998/Stumped-HeaderV3_244331.gif)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-05-gayton-mckenzie-ticketpro-cricket-south-africa/) The DA, EFF and ActionSA have raised questions over alleged political influence in the Ticketpro saga, while highlighting McKenzie’s alleged history of controversial appointments. ### **‘19 positions in two years’** The DA said that the sale of Ticketpro to a consortium allegedly linked to the PA has added to growing questions about the overlap between PA-linked people and the country’s sport, art and cultural bodies. The DA alleged that at least 19 people linked to the PA or McKenzie have been appointed to key positions across these sectors under the minister’s department over the past two years. The DA has formally referred the matter to the Public Protector to investigate potential breaches of the Executive Ethics Code and conflicts of interest. “The PA Minister’s reach across South Africa’s sport, arts and cultural sectors, combined with the growing presence of PA-linked individuals in key positions, poses a serious risk. There now exists a severe conflict of interest across these sectors, with PA-linked individuals appointed throughout – a PA patronage legacy that will outlast the minister’s tenure,” said the DA in a statement attributed to MPs Mlindi Nhanha and Leah Potgieter. ![Mckenzie Ticketpro](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/mjM0YC1p0qFcuK2l5DZJDppmQJM=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/StumpedDMCSAinvestigation09_541639_312825.jpg) *New Ticketpro CEO Bakang Lethoko with Gayton McKenzie at a Patriotic Alliance gathering in 2022. (Photo: Supplied)* The Auditor-General has also [reported poor record-keeping](https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/41948/) and confirmed fraud in some cases in McKenzie’s department. The minister skipped last week’s parliamentary briefing on those findings and attended a Cricket World Cup schedule launch instead. “In a department where targets regressed by 13% and a lack of consequence management was flagged as a serious risk, the minister ought to realise that good governance starts with appointing people to lead the department and its entities on merit, not political ties,” said the DA. ### **Demands for transparency** The EFF said Lethoko’s appointment was no coincidence. “The purchase price and the source of the funds are being kept secret, and the Cricket World Cup organisers have not explained how ticketing was awarded. A minister who cares about clean governance would have demanded full disclosure the moment this was raised,” a party statement said. “Instead, his office asked whether PA members should ‘starve’, as if the question were about hunger and not about who is positioned to profit from public sport.” McKenzie has strongly denied any role in his former chief of staff’s ascension to her new position as Ticketpro’s boss. Ticketpro Group denied that its perceived political ties were problematic. The EFF demanded that the Public Protector fast-track the investigation into PA-linked appointments, and that the Cricket World Cup organisers and Cricket SA publish how Ticketpro was appointed. “We further demand that the minister and all PA-linked appointees make a full public disclosure of their interests in Ticketpro and every other entity doing business with the state or state-funded bodies,” the EFF continued. “A minister who ducks accountability to Parliament while his department’s books are in disorder has told South Africans exactly how seriously he takes oversight.” McKenzie has faced repeated accusations of placing party insiders, as well as personal and political associates, in state-funded positions. [AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY Gayton McKenzie ordered to hand over documents for corruption probe June 4, 2024 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ptdii-ENKVIlccgS1z9zsuaDWic=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GaytonMcK.jpeg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-04-court-orders-gayton-mckenzie-to-hand-over-documents-for-corruption-probe/) The EFF referred to an earlier controversy involving a R3-million gala dinner in Sandton hosted in 2022 while McKenzie was executive mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality. He allegedly billed the event as a fundraiser for service delivery in one of the poorest regions of the country. The donations for the Karoo projects were allegedly deposited into an account linked to McKenzie and the PA, prompting the Western Cape high court to order that McKenzie hand over the information to forensic investigators. McKenzie lost his fight against the court order through the high court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and finally the Constitutional Court in April 2026. The matter remains unresolved more than three years after the dinner. It has since gone back to court, with the EFF accusing McKenzie of trying to have the investigation terminated. The EFF has demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa explain why he has continued to keep a minister in Cabinet who is under a forensic investigation that he has spent years trying to curtail. ### ‘No idea about separation of powers’ Commenting on the matter in a post shared on X, ActionSA’s parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said: “Gayton McKenzie has no idea about the separation of powers between party and state.” “My comments are based on a persistent thread of appointments made by McKenzie and \[PA deputy president Kenny\] Kunene of their party friends, colleagues and staff to positions that appear to benefit directly from their proximity to their leaders,” Trollip told Daily Maverick. “This is no different to the infamous cadre deployment system used by the ANC, but it’s done much more candidly and brazenly because McKenzie very self-evidently finds it hard to reconcile himself with the principle of the separation of powers between party and state. His tenure as mayor in the Central Karoo is littered with similar examples.” **DM**