Another day, another black eye for Gayton McKenzie, this time at the hands of the National Treasury over his project to introduce the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR).
The sports minister does not seem to always know how to align his thoughts and his mouth with the facts of any given situation.
In the wake of the 2024 Paris Olympics, he announced that he wanted 300 Olympians and 50 Paralympians at Los Angeles 2028, with his logic being that more people representatives means more medals.
That’s not necessarily true.
Then McKenzie decided he wanted the VAR to be introduced into football, even though, apparently, neither the Premier Soccer League (PSL) nor the South African Football Association (Safa) had shown great appetite to bring it in.
Apart from the R82m he planned to lay out for the technology, a system where a match is reviewed by a video referee using video footage to help the on-field referee make more accurate decisions on major incidents, there are still annual costs that have to be taken care of.
Never mind that McKenzie decided to rob Peter to pay Paul, taking R62m of the intended budget from the country’s sports federations.
Most of the 75-odd sports bodies are heavily reliant on these annual grants, much of which is spent on development. These included the very Olympic codes he expected to deliver athletes to LA.
There is a further point to be made on the VAR saga, which is that McKenzie should not have made overblown promises of using taxpayers’ money towards its establishment in the first place.
On top of that, his move meant the department of sport, arts and culture had reneged on three-year agreements it had signed with federations guaranteeing them funding.
Those contracts were necessitated because an ad hoc funding model had made running sports nearly impossible, with bodies getting told what they were going to receive six or more months into the financial year.
They would receive the money only a few months after that and then have to spend it in a rush before the end of the financial year or return unspent cash.
This had been a long-standing gripe that was finally fixed, but McKenzie dumped those contracts with a year to go.
Funding for federations including swimming and athletics was cut by 60% and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee was cut by 100%.
McKenzie justified his actions, insisting it was not viable for the government to keep supporting federations, which was a major departure from the existing funding model.
He claimed to have secured corporate support for federations, which happens to be what he’s saying about his attempt to bring F1 to the country.
McKenzie also pointed to poor governance within many federations, but that didn’t explain why those without any issues had also been cut.
But now that the Treasury has told him he can’t take the R62m, he must divert it back to sports federations — that is a huge climb down.
There is a further point to be made on the VAR saga, which is that McKenzie should not have made overblown promises of using taxpayers’ money towards its establishment in the first place.
VAR has been implemented with success in major global leagues and Fifa tournaments for six to eight years, but the PSL and Safa have dragged their feet in finding a way to follow suit.
Costs have been put forward as the main deterrent, but surely the PSL especially has shown itself to have major corporate connectivity and an ability to draw big sponsorships. Why could it not use those to bring the VAR to its league, given the improvement in officiating quality that could be instilled, rather than lagging in this respect behind the world’s major players.
Still, McKenzie has been embarrassed and much of that seems to have clearly stemmed from his determination to take the spotlight, often through off-the-cuff promises that draw applause in the room.
Not that this minister seems to blush. He announced in March that minimum boxing purses would increase from R4,000 to R20,000, with the government subsidising R10,000 for each fighter.
That exercise could cost his department up to R2m a month, but unsurprisingly, nearly nine months later, fighters are still waiting to hear if this will actually materialise. Don’t be surprised if that’s another black eye loading.
The need for ephemeral applause seems to override due synthesis of the issues. The country probably deserves a sports minister who thinks before he talks.
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