---
title: "Watch — SA’s sports funding crisis exposed as athletes pay the price"
type: "VideoObject"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Maverick News"
author: "Annemieke Thomaidis"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/annemieke-thomaidis/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/video/2026-08-14-watch-sa-s-sports-funding-crisis-exposed-as-athletes-pay-the-price/"
published: "2026-08-14T14:37:58"
updated: "2026-08-14T14:38:01"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 726
---

# Watch — SA’s sports funding crisis exposed as athletes pay the price

> [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwhxLZXkONU)

By Annemieke Thomaidis · Published 14 August 2026, 16:37 SAST · Updated 14 August 2026, 16:38 SAST

[Watch the video on Daily Maverick](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/video/2026-08-14-watch-sa-s-sports-funding-crisis-exposed-as-athletes-pay-the-price/)

## Content

*[Watch video on Daily Maverick](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/video/2026-08-14-watch-sa-s-sports-funding-crisis-exposed-as-athletes-pay-the-price/)*

South Africa’s athletes are winning on the world stage, but they’re paying for it out of their own pockets. From R120,000 tournament fees to covering official staff costs, we look into why national teams are forced to crowdfund while big-budget spending happens elsewhere. Daily Maverick’s Annemieke Thomatis explains.

Reporting by: Annemieke Thomatis
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Edited by: Anda Tolibadi
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Creative input by: Malibongwe Tyilo
Sub-edited by: Ian Wolstenholme

**\*\*\***

Mid-July, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie approved R3-million to help fund the South African men’s and women’s hockey teams’ World Cup campaigns.

Set for mid-August in Belgium and the Netherlands, the tournament represents the pinnacle of the sport. Yet instead of focusing purely on training and preparation, many players were forced to split their time crowdfunding.

While the teams have now received the funding, the circumstances that prompted it are difficult to ignore. That is because it took a social media post and public outcry for the players to receive that support.

Hi, I’m Annemieke Thomaidis, sports journalist for Daily Maverick.

Athletes having to fund themselves for domestic and international competitions is nothing new. But this latest episode has once again put the spotlight on government spending priorities and why it often seems to take public pressure before support reaches athletes.

The conversation started when two-time hockey Olympian Onthatile Zulu took to social media on the 17th of July to speak up about the financial burden she and many of her teammates face.

Zulu said it had cost her roughly R68,000 including expenses such as flights, accommodation, meals, transport, medical treatment and training camps, all to be able to represent South Africa at the World Cup.

While the opportunity to wear the green and gold colours has been a dream come true, Zulu said it was exhausting and stressful having to worry about paying for tournaments when, really, she should only be focusing on performance.

Her post was aimed at McKenzie and his department who were already facing criticism over almost R31-million spent on what was described as a nation-building programme around the Fifa World Cup. According to the department, some of it included more than R3-million worth of hospitality suite tickets and another R3-million was spent on match tickets for stakeholders, fans, influencers and artists.

McKenzie defended the spending, saying that promoting South Africa on the world’s biggest sporting stage falls within the department’s mandate and provides value for the country.

That may be true, but critics are questioning whether the expenditure was truly value for money, especially when many communities still lack basic sports facilities and national teams, like hockey, remain severely underfunded.

It is an allocation strategy that looks even more questionable in light of other high-profile spends. Earlier this year, McKenzie’s department spent R85-million in licence fees to bring LIV Golf to South Africa, a tournament whose future is now very uncertain.

Government funding is only one piece of the puzzle, though. Federations also rely on other funding channels such as National Lottery funding, support from Sascoc or private sponsorships. But those funds must often be stretched across international tours, athlete preparation, coaching staff, management teams and team kit.

As a result, athlete contributions fill in the funding gaps to make international participation possible.

Swimming South Africa provides another example.

Ahead of the Junior Artistic Swimming Championships in August, athletes were initially asked to pay almost R86,000 each to participate. But after several swimmers withdrew, that figure shot up to R120,000.

Then came the Pan Pacific Championships in California. In a provisional squad list, athletes were informed that on top of their own participation fees, they would also have to cover the costs for accompanying staff.

What those staff expenses actually cover, how many officials are traveling, and what individual athletes are being billed for remain entirely unclear.

Meanwhile, figures supplied by Swimming South Africa show athlete contributions to its high-performance programme have more than doubled in recent years, increasing from R4.12-million in 2022 to R9.53-million in 2025.

And maybe that’s the real takeaway here.

The hockey teams got their funding in the end, but the system that forced their hand hasn’t changed.

Across sport after sport, South African athletes are still footing the bill to represent their country. The money exists. The question is why it’s not reaching the people who need it. **DM**