McKenzie outlines grand plans for SA sport, but leaves many questions unanswered

Video assistant referees, the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and Formula 1 were among the topics that Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie touched on when he addressed the media at the Freedom Park Heritage Site and Museum in Pretoria on Wednesday, 4 March.

In typical McKenzie fashion, his address was boisterous, passionate and filled with anecdotes. It rang with promises made and promises fulfilled.

But for every question answered, twice as many remained obscured or ignored. The vision was grand, but the execution lacked a tangible blueprint.

A South African entourage

With fewer than 100 days until the Fifa World Cup, McKenzie dismissed calls for a boycott of the competition.

The Economic Freedom Fighters had called for a boycott citing discriminatory visa restrictions in the US, one of the host nations, together with Canada and Mexico.

“Football should not become a casualty of geopolitics,” said McKenzie.

He revealed plans for South African fan parks in Mexico, and performances by local artists and chefs showcasing local cuisine. The chefs, he said, will be selected via competitions.

Influencers and content creators will also be included.

However, the logistics surrounding this announcement were unclear.

While McKenzie intends to appeal to sponsors to pay for all of this, the timeline of the competitions, the costs involved and the identities of potential sponsors remain a mystery.

The VAR system

McKenzie reaffirmed his long-standing promise to introduce the video assistant referee (VAR) system in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League.

“Football is not waiting for South Africa,” he said.

Holding up a piece of paper, McKenzie said the department had transferred the first tranche of R20-million to the SA Football Association (Safa) as part of a three-year roll-out plan. He insisted that VAR would be in use as soon as August.

Initial discussions revealed that implementing VAR in South Africa would cost upwards of R80-million, said McKenzie.

The department, along with Safa, had appointed a technical refereeing task team led by Safa’s head of referees, Daniel Bennett, to oversee the implementation of the system.

Wafcon hosting uncertainty

McKenzie said that South Africa was ready to host the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) at the eleventh hour should Morocco withdraw as hosts.

The tournament, which is a qualifier for the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil, is scheduled to take place in Morocco from 17 March to 3 April.

However, with less than two weeks before kickoff, uncertainty remains over Morocco’s ability to host the tournament.

“At the moment, there remains significant uncertainty about the tournament schedule, with very little time remaining before it is expected to take place,” said the minister. “We have more clarity about games being planned in villages in Limpopo than about the premier women’s football tournament on our continent.

“This is unfair to the teams preparing to compete, to the federations trying to plan, and most importantly to the women who have dedicated their lives to the sport.”

McKenzie said South Africa had the stadiums and infrastructure to host the event, but did not divulge any details as to where the budget would come from to host it.

Besides stadiums, South Africa would need to organise transportation, accommodation, operations staff, crowd control and policing, emergency services, and much more.

On Thursday, the Confederation of African Football is expected to announce whether the competition will proceed in Morocco or be relocated to South Africa.

Formula 1 delayed again

Another promise that has swung like a pendulum, raising hopes only to dash them, is the long-awaited return of Formula 1 (F1) racing to South Africa.

A South African F1 Grand Prix was originally expected to be hosted in 2027, with McKenzie making several announcements attesting to that.

In 2025, the Cabinet approved a bid led by the sports department host a F1 Grand Prix at the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit in Johannesburg in 2027.

However, in January this year, it was reported that this was no longer the case because the department had “underestimated what was required” to host an F1 event.

Now, it appears that an F1 Grand Prix may only come to South Africa in 2029.

At his briefing, McKenzie stated: “Another area where progress has been made is South Africa’s ambition to return to the F1 calendar. We have now secured the most important thing, which is the guarantee, the money. We secured the money for F1.”

Included in the list of private backers are Discovery, Betway, Canal+, MTN and SuperSport.

“F1 is going to happen,” said McKenzie.

He said Cape Town had made a strong bid to host a Grand Prix and it would “be unfair of me to just ignore that”.

“We have now decided that in the next three weeks after LIV Golf, we are going to announce an F1 local organising committee, which will now take the decision [of who will host the Grand Prix],” McKenzie told Daily Maverick.

However, a few minutes later, he reverted to his January stance, admitting the department had underestimated the immense logistical burden of Formula One — specifically the precision required for tasks like temperature-controlled tyre storage

“It’s a moving circus,” he said. “We have the money, make no mistake about that. We have the manpower, we have the organisers [but] I like to be safe, not embarrass the country, so we are replanning.”

Holding municipalities to account

The contrast between the promise to host global sporting spectacles and the failure to develop sports at the grassroots level was evident.

In his briefing, the minister, as he has done previously, emphasised that sport development begins at the community level.

“It begins on local fields, in community halls, on netball courts and in municipal stadiums,” he said.

Five percent of funds allocated to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant are directed toward sport and recreation infrastructure, said McKenzie.

He acknowledged there were ongoing challenges with maintenance, delays and the reprioritisation of funds by some municipalities.

His solution: to compile and make public a list of non-compliant municipalities at the end of the financial year to strengthen accountability.

The private sector has also been called upon to assist with co-funding and long-term maintenance. However, the admission of systemic implementation failures raises questions about the strength of oversight mechanisms and why corrective action appears reactive rather than preventative.

The emphasis on grassroots investment also sits alongside the continued ambitions to host global sporting spectacles, prompting further scrutiny over how the government balances elite-event spending with sustained community-level development. DM