Minister Gayton McKenzie: Press conference on SAFA and overall Sport, Arts and Culture Portfolio at Freedom Park

Good afternoon, members of the media, fellow South Africans, colleagues, and friends,

Let me start with an issue that has dominated headlines over the past few weeks - the so-called "yellow-card blunder" that threatened to derail Bafana Bafana's World Cup qualification campaign.

When I heard that our national team had been docked three points, I requested a full report from SAFA following our successful qualification for the World Cup. Just because we survived the scare, that didn't mean that we needed to sweep the matter under the carpet. I wrote to FIFA, too, to apologise for the embarrassment caused and to acknowledge that this was about ensuring accountability and that it would never happen again.

South Africans deserve answers.

SAFA has since completed its investigation, they provided me with a very comprehensive investigation, and I can report today that we now have full clarity on what happened.

The report confirms that this was not an act of negligence or sabotage, but rather a strange and highly unusual set of coincidences. The two yellow cards issued to Teboho Mokoena came sixteen months apart - an almost unheard-of gap. Team manager Vincent Tseka, who has taken responsibility for the oversight despite numerous extenuating circumstances, was not present when the second card was issued, as he had left the field to fetch ice.

That extraordinary coincidence tells us something deeper - that our national team is operating under immense strain, with far too few hands doing far too much work.

Despite their tremendous progress and positive results, Bafana Bafana are still under-resourced. That's the uncomfortable truth.

I commend SAFA for being transparent, and I agree that now is not the time to make a martyr or a scapegoat out of anyone, including Mr Tseka, who works hard and loves this team. He deserves our support and I am fairly confident that we will not see a repeat of this strange blunder.

All that we must do now is unite behind our team, who have now gone 24 games unbeaten.

Let us give Bafana our full support - the players, the coaches, and yes, the officials. Mistakes happen, lessons are learned, and we move forward stronger.

In that spirit, I would like to announce that in recognition of the incredible success we have seen under this revitalised Hugo Broos team, we will be transferring R5 million in government support to the Bafana squad.

Since we also recognise that other teams have also made us extremely proud in recent months, we will be making support payments to the players in Banyana Banyana (R1 million), the national under-20 football team (Amajita) (R1 million), the female Proteas (R1 million), the women's national rugby team (R1 million) and the under-17 football team currently competing in Qatar at the World Cup (the Amajimbos) will receive R500 000.

As we look ahead to the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco this December and January, and the World Cup next year in the USA, Mexico and Canada, the message from me as Minister is simple: let's stand behind our team.

But we must also be honest - part of the problem is inadequate staffing and support. I therefore call on corporate South Africa and all potential sponsors to step up. We need you to stand with Bafana Bafana and all our national teams. The players have done their part, and now let's do ours.

I also call on all South African fans to go out and buy their official team jerseys and wear them on Fridays so that our players can feel the tide of support that will lift them, and, we pray, push them to lift that Afcon trophy in January. We came so close last time, and this team has only improved since then - so we have reason to expect greatness from them, and to believe.

Introducing VAR: strengthening integrity in South African football

In that same spirit of progress and professionalism, I also want to update South Africans on another important development - the rollout of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in South African football.

SAFA has recently appointed a VAR Project Team, led by respected former referee Daniel Bennett, alongside respected figures in football refereeing Victor Gomes, Jerome Damon, and Abdul Ebrahim, SAFA's Head of Referees.

This team has been working closely with FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to ensure that South Africa implements VAR in full compliance with international standards.

As per our initial meeting with Mr Bennett, the ministry is overseeing and controlling all initial project funding until the system is fully established and stable. Strict financial controls are in place, with at least three independent signatories to authorise any transactions related to the rollout.

The plan is for SAFA to submit the initial infrastructure and setup budget to the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture before 31 March 2026 - the end of our financial year.

This is a complex and ambitious project, but it is essential. VAR is not just about correcting referee errors - it's about protecting the integrity of our game, restoring trust, and ensuring that South African football meets global standards.

We are proud to be working hand in hand with SAFA, FIFA, and CAF to bring VAR to our leagues and to set a benchmark for the rest of Africa.

Treasury has approved initial spend of more than R20 million in this financial year, and we are confident that we will phase VAR in using a sustainable and affordable approach that will see all our big games supported by VAR, and South Africans can already look forward to seeing VAR on their screens as we test and prove the solution that is being chosen.

Accountability in sports funding

This brings me to another issue that has caused some controversy this year - the perceived funding cuts to certain sports federations.

Let me be clear: these were not random cuts. There was good reason to withhold some allocations, and that reason is accountability.

Government cannot interfere in the administration of sport, but we also cannot continue to fund maladministration. It cannot be business as usual.

Take the example of Basketball South Africa. This sport should be booming in this country. Our young people love it and it has become one of the fastest-growing and supported sports in schools. We should have thriving leagues, packed arenas, and home-grown stars making their way into the NBA. Instead, basketball is in the ICU in South Africa.

Last year, when Basketball South Africa bungled the hosting of the FIBA U18 Afrobasket tournament, they turned to government to bail them out. We spent more than R18 million to rescue that event and protect South Africa's reputation.

Afterwards, I asked SASCOC to investigate and take strong action. We waited for months, only to be told that our complaint had been "registered as a dispute." That's not good enough. How can the concerns of a Department that recognises all the federations be considered a "dispute"? We are not one child's angry mother writing emails fuming about why her son wasn't picked for the team. We are Government.

When the Department eventually made the decision to withdraw the recognition of Basketball South Africa as a federation, SASCOC simply carried on working with this same federation and its leadership, as if nothing had happened and despite the implication that an unrecognised federation would not be able to send athletes to compete in international events.

This is unacceptable. How can we be expected to believe that sports administration is healthy in this country when you can have situations like this?

So when people ask why we are tightening funding and demanding accountability, this is why. How can we talk about healthy sports governance when such things are allowed to happen?

But I also want to be fair: we are not walking away from our federations. Quite the opposite. We have been meeting one-on-one with the presidents and executives of all federations, a process that is ongoing and has been enormously constructive.

In fact, in many cases, those meetings have led to increased funding after successfully engaging with us. Netball, Athletics, Cycling, Karate, Motorsport, the Mountain Club, Paddlesport, Rowing, Sailing, Surfing, USSA, Deaf Sport, Cue Sport, Badminton, Transplant Sport and Rollersport have already received their funding while more are being processed.

That's because we are an involved and caring ministry, and when we see commitment, good governance and results, we reward it.

We are also giving more attention to smaller, neglected sporting codes that have been overlooked for too long.

We are stopping the unacceptable era of athletes having to sell wors rolls to raise money while government pays for superfans to travel to tournaments. Those days are over.

This ministry is serious about fairness, transparency and impact. Change is never easy, but it is necessary.

And even SASCOC cannot say we've abandoned them - we funded Team South Africa's participation at the AUSC Region 5 Games, and we are now providing an additional R9 million for participation in the 4th African Youth Games in Luanda, Angola.

Team SA won 106 medals at the last African Games. I know the current crop of athletes participating again this year will once again make South Africa proud.

Private sector partnerships and Project 350

Beyond government funding, we are building new partnerships with the private sector.

We've engaged companies like Sasol, who continue to set the benchmark in supporting women's football with sponsorship, and I want to thank them publicly for agreeing to do even more.

We've also welcomed new sponsors like Honor, the increasingly popular mobile phone brand, who are now supporting our Under-20 World Cup squad and Bafana Bafana. That partnership began in meetings at our offices in Pretoria. We also recognise the amazing support we continue to see from a company like Betway Cares that so often steps up to support not just our sport but also arts and culture initiatives.

This kind of collaboration is exactly what we need to take South African sport to the next level.

It's all part of Project 350, our ambitious plan to take 300 Olympic athletes and 50 Paralympians to Los Angeles in 2028. Several provinces have already launched their own Project 350 initiatives, and we are finalising the national model.

Infrastructure and access

We are also investing heavily in sports infrastructure.

The department is rolling out combi courts in public schools at a pace never seen before, and we are working with private sector partners to expand this.

Too many of our stars still come from private and former Model C schools. Some of our greatest talent is sitting in rural areas and in poorer schools in townships, but infrastructure doesn't speak to the recognition of that talent.

Something is wrong in the ecosystem if the private schools are the ones bringing out the crème de la crème. It's disadvantaging our children overall and we're sending out the wrong message about the kind of country we are and want to be.

We will also keep investing in outdoor gyms throughout the country. We are working with our municipalities to step up to recognise the importance of this infrastructure and to commit to maintaining it. We are engaging with the relevant mayors and municipal managers to make sure that this important investment in public health continues to be made and maintained - because we recognise their value in promoting health, community and pride.

Arts, culture and heritage

Now let me turn to the work we're doing in arts, culture and heritage - the soul of our nation.

On 29 October, a few days ago during President Ramaphosa's State Visit to Switzerland, President Karin Keller-Sutter of the Swiss Confederation handed over the Shiluvana Family's ancestral spiritual artefacts, returning a piece of our stolen heritage to its rightful home.

Earlier, on 13 October, I led a delegation of ten community representatives from the Northern Cape Reburial Task Team to repatriate the ancestral human remains of our Khoi and San ancestors from the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow.

A deeply spiritual ceremony was held under the guidance of Mr Petrus Vaalbooi. The remains arrived home on 16 October, and we held a moving homecoming ceremony at the Iziko Museums of South Africa the next day.

We are also still working hard to repatriate the remains of our liberation heroes from Lesotho, Angola and Russia - our work in Angola has been our greatest challenge, but we remain committed to bringing our fallen stalwarts home, and the work to preserve and memorialise the Viana Transit Camp near Luanda is continuing and will be finalised within coming months with the support of patriotic South Africans who have businesses in both countries.

We are also very proud of the work we have been doing at Robben Island and the progress that continues to be made. At the end of September we launched the emotionally charged Wall of Remembrance at the island's harbour, and unveiled the statues of six former prisoners whose names still echo through history: Autshumato, Krotoa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, Namibia's Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, and Khotso Seathlolo.

The Wall of Remembrance now bears 2 717 names of ex-political prisoners incarcerated on Robben Island. Of the 464 living EPPs, 336 received medals in recognition of their unbreakable courage.

Future plans for the island include our continuing success in liberalising the ferry services with private operators, the restoration of the old golf course, a coffee shop and restaurant, wellness and spiritual retreat programmes and offerings, the launch of a Nelson Mandela Museum - and much more.

This work recognises the timeless popularity of the island while ensuring that it remains relevant for the future and in line with global standards and trends in museum management.

These actions underline the success we have enjoyed with the recent signing of the KwaDukuza Declaration adopted by the G20 Culture Working Group last week, which prioritises the safeguarding and restitution of our cultural heritage as global citizens.

Arts sector progress

In the arts, we have established 17 sector clusters, with 14 already funded and all boards appointed. The remaining three will be finalised soon, too, after resolving minor compliance matters.

We also promised to secure office space for all clusters and federations - I can confirm that the advert for the Sport, Arts and Culture House will be published before the end of this month.

We are also in the process of introducing temporary insurance cover for all eligible sports and arts practitioners. This will cover life,

disability, funeral benefits, and education for dependants for the next three years. The evaluation of the bids has been completed, and adjudication will soon be finalised.

This will mean that, as a Department, the reactive scrambling that occurs whenever one of our sports stars or legends fall sick or die will be replaced by benefits that are structured and fair, and make a peaceful and lasting difference to them and their families in their hour of need.

This is part of our broader commitment to create sustainable livelihoods for our artists and athletes - alongside key legislative reforms like the Copyright Amendment Bill. We are insuring our artists while working to change their lives in service to lasting sustainability.

In conclusion, I wish to assure South Africa that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is making a difference, and real, tangible progress will continue to be delivered.

We are moving. We are challenging old systems, cleaning up where there was chaos, and building where there was neglect.

We are investing in people: in athletes, in artists, in our heritage.

The message today is simple: accountability and progress are not opposites. They are partners.

Let us keep moving forward, together, with pride, purpose, and partnership.

I thank you.

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