LISTEN | We are not 'All You Need is Love': McKenzie happy 'Papa Joy' paying for Mama Joy's Olympic trip

Sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie is happy someone else has taken over financing superfan Joy “Mama Joy” Chauke's sports trips after cancelling funding for superfan trips in July.

Despite the minister's decision, Chauke made a “super plan” to attend the Olympics with her partner “Papa Joy”. The superfan shared pictures and videos of her romantic trip to Paris, where she reunited with her French boyfriend, who Chauke said paid for the trip.

“I'm glad to see somebody paid for Mama Joy to be there, showing us she's in love with Papa Joy. He should have done that a long time ago. What type of man is that who can't pay for his woman? Now we must pay for their love. We are not [former SABC reality TV show] All You Need Is Love; we are the sports department.

“If I want my girlfriend to go anywhere, I'll pay as a man. Let that Frenchman pay for his love and they can take these nice pictures, he's got euros. I'm very happy for Mama Joy. I love Mama Joy, but I love my job more and my job requires me to empower sports, arts, and culture people. That man should have paid a long time ago for his love to be there. We are not the ministry of finding love,” McKenzie said in an interview with Robert Marawa.

He said he doesn't regret his decision to cancel sponsoring superfan trips.

“Most South Africans are superfans. We love sports, we use our last money to go watch Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. People would use their last money to watch the derby, that's a sign of a superfan.

“How do I, as a minister of sport, explain athletes are struggling with transport to get to training? How do I explain teams didn't have sufficient time to train because of financial reasons, while I pay for business class seats and five-star hotels for 'Mama Joy', Botha [Msila], and the superfans? How do I spend R1.3m on hotel and accommodation while the same people they want to go watch and support can't get there? Am I crazy? I can't do that. I can't spend money on supporters. I'm not a minister of supporters, I'm a minister of sports. I don't regret my decision, I still stand by my decision.”

McKenzie recently returned from the Olympics in France, saying he had to cut his trip short to save costs.

“I was looking at people travelling all the time and going overseas. That time is over. I went to Paris recently and people are shocked that I'm back while the Olympics are still on. I've got work to do. Yes, I went there, and I was able to watch three [Olympic] events, and I came back. I wanted to watch swimming, but I understood it doesn't make me better. It's not a great thing I did by coming back to work. It should become a norm that we should spend money on athletes, sport and culture.”

Since taking office, McKenzie has made promises to improve the department. Among those, his primary focus was to enhance sport in schools.

“As a non-white person, you are born with only two sports: netball and soccer. White people are born with a rugby ball, most of them, and they cultivate that until they have many professional players. Black people, somewhere, somehow, get lost in the system. The engine room of sport is in schools. The engine room that gives birth to sports stars is in schools. Now, when you look at advantaged schools, and private schools, their engine room is alive.

“My job as a sports minister is to make sure sport, arts and culture get recognition in schools because a child in sport is a child out of court. That's my saying for this term.”

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