“Let’s hope nobody spends R31-million.” - Dino Ballotti, Namibia’s deputy sports minister, drops the mic on Gayton McKenzie.
Telford Vice / Cape Town
SPORTS ministers are the clown in every government’s cabinet. They are appointed by people who, although they tend to understand sport as well as they do Einstein’s equations, know they must accommodate elected buffoons. Exhibit AAA+: Gayton McKenzie.
There are exceptions. Like the truly honourable Steve Tshwete, who spent 14 years on Robben Island for fighting apartheid. McKenzie, undoubtedly a victim of apartheid, spent the best part of a decade behind bars for armed robbery.
Tshwete went to jail for a better life for all. McKenzie went to jail for threatening people with death to steal and enrich himself. Spot the difference.
That McKenzie has been rehabilitated is commendable. Less so that he wears the stain of his criminal past like a cheap plastic badge of honour.
“I had a very good excuse,” he said at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg on Thursday to explain why he hadn’t taken much notice of the 2003 men’s cricket World Cup, which was played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
As he spoke he flashed a switchblade smile, allowed his eyes to fade to a grim grey, and waited …
McKenzie’s inference was that he was in prison at the time. Some sources say he was released in 2002, others that he made it out in “early 2003”. The tournament was played from February 9 to March 23. Whatever the details, embarrassed giggling duly ricocheted through the packed room.
The crowd had gathered to hear the confirmation of the venues for next year’s men’s World Cup, which will be hosted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and see the unveiling of the tournament’s impressively vibrant branding.
So McKenzie’s dubious presence had to be endured. But he wouldn’t have the pleasure of delivering the evening’s proper punchline.
Also on stage were McKenzie’s Zimbabwe and Namibia counterparts, Anselem Sanyatwe and deputy minister Dino Ballotti. The ponderous Sanyatwe sounded unused to having his pronouncements interrogated, or exactly like he should have as a retired general who headed Zimbabwe’s army. Ballotti was bright as a button, which probably explains why he doesn’t have the top job in Namibia.
The last word in the trio’s panel discussion went to Ballotti, and he used it well: “Let’s hope nobody spends R31-million …” The rest of his sentence was lost in the raucous laughter that ripped through the room.
McKenzie hit the headlines hard last month when he revealed in parliament that his department had spent R30,945,370.15 of taxpayers’ money at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The funds paid for the attendance at the tournament of 18 officials, including McKenzie, along with artists, former footballers and travelling journalists.
McKenzie seems to think it a mitigating factor that his own bill was a mere R1,058,379.75. He appears confident he can quell the scandal by saying, “I will show South African taxpayers exactly how every cent of their money was used.” And by pointing out that “lucky fans” were not part of the deal. That’s presumably a nod towards so-called superfan Joyce “Mama Joy” Chauke, who has made a career out of turning up at far flung sports events to appear on television brandishing the face of someone permanently frozen in a state of surprise.
Ballotti wasn’t McKenzie’s only nemesis on Thursday. Trevor Manuel, the former finance minister who is now the chair of the World Cup’s local organising committee, used his speech to leap cricket’s boundaries: “We know the devastating cost of division, of drawing lines in the sand based on where someone was born, what language they speak or the colour of their skin.
“That is why it deeply pains us to address the ugly strains of xenophobia, which I frame as Afrophobia, that our country is witnessing. Hatred, intolerance and violence against other people should have no place amongst us.
“When we see these acts on the streets of South Africa, it’s a betrayal of our hard won democracy, a rejection of our constitution and an insult to the very concept of ubuntu.
“When the world looks at South Africa, they should not see closed borders and clenched fists. They should see open arms, vibrant diversity and shared African dignity. Our stadiums do not care where you come from. They only ask that you love the game and respect your neighbour.”
Manuel was taking aim at the March on March (MOM) mob who are mounting anti-immigrant hate protests around South Africa. McKenzie has said members of his Patriotic Alliance would be expelled from the party should they join MOM. But he has also espoused views that are blatantly xenophobic.
He has said children of undocumented foreigners should be banned from South Africa’s schools, and that he would prioritise locals over foreigners in hospitals. And there Manuel was, telling him in exquisitely articulate language why that was so wrong.
It was difficult to hear all that and not feel despair about how far our society has fallen. We used to be led by people of the calibre of Tshwete and Manuel. Now we have McKenzie and Mama Joy. At least, next year, we’ll also have the men’s World Cup.
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