Much like the list of 3,962 payments for Covid-19 beneficiaries, which were released by Gayton McKenzie’s Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, it is common knowledge that the minister has come into office like a wrecking ball.
The promises - populist others may say - that the Patriotic Alliance leader has made, have come large and quickly, and that has seen his popularity rise.
For example, the Covid-19 beneficiaries list has been seen as good and bad on the political spectrum. It’s definitely a good thing that all the payments have been disclosed, including the total payout of over R72 million - but what about those people that applied for a bailout during Covid from government? Did they agree to be publicly named? Almost certainly not.
Even before McKenzie saw to the releasing of this list, he promised to weed out corruption in his department.
He said:
“we have a corrupt few mafias but we also have those that got intimidated by those creatives who invoke the names of politicians to demand funding. I will fire the corrupt ones and protect the good ones, we will make SA proud.”
I allowed plumpness to enter me, I am evicting it, don’t let yourself go 🥲have you run today ?lets go South Africans , I will be doing my first marathon in a month 🤞🏽 pic.twitter.com/LmxgPfNGSn
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) July 6, 2024
Deliberate messages
Most of his statements, in fact, have come on X.
This is seemingly quite deliberate. McKenzie clearly wants his words and stances available for all to see, and not necessarily confined to news publications and websites.
While his stances are mostly hard, and probably controversial, he has also made sure the SA public have seen his playful side.
Before diving into his crusade against corruption, he vowed to “evict plumpness” by training for his first marathon as one of his first acts as sports minister.
Fortunately, sanity (read: medical advice from his doctor) prevailed and he has instead opted to run his first 5km race next month, instead of the 42.2km distance.
McKenzie is already by far one of the most popular ministers in South Africa’s Government of National Unity, but the popularity, or sometimes notoriety, of Mzansi’s sports ministers is not a new thing.
Think back to the infamous Ngconde Balfour who said back in 2002: “Who is Jacques Kallis? Jacques Kallis means nothing to me.”
That was when Kallis was at the peak of his powers as the best all-rounder in cricket at the time, and possibly ever.
The African National Congress (ANC) member Balfour had said that he did not follow South African cricket to watch Kallis and Mark Boucher, but to see Paul Adams and Makhaya Ntini playing.
Another SA minister of sport that lived for the limelight was Fikile Mbalula, who is the current secretary general of the governing ANC.
His seven years as Sports Minister between 2010 to 2017 were anything but boring. He was one of the first ministers to make full use of social media through his posts on Twitter, as Mbalula was always a headline-grabber.
Mbalula was always one to jump on the bandwagon when a South African team did well and be sure to drive the dagger in when another, or the same side, failed.
Bunch of losers? Remember that.
Am convinced Fikile Mbalula and his Peers laugh at us South Africans behind closed doors 😳😡😱
— IG:Joy-Zelda (@joy_zelda) February 27, 2023
Minister Of Electricity President Ramaphosa Sjava Lady Zamar Queen Lolly Musa #Omakhwapheni Mseleku #MassCountry pic.twitter.com/7ZIzKebyyG
Paragon of human perfection
The best example of this was when Proteas cricketer Graeme Smith reached 100 Tests as captain in 2013. And though Mbalula made his remark tongue in cheek, his quip that Smith was “a paragon of human perfection” stuck out as a quote for the ages.
Smith was a great cricketer, but he was no Mother Teresa. Talk about wild hyperbole.
A year later, he would call Bafana Bafana a “bunch of losers” after they crashed out of the group stages of the African Nations Championships 2014.
That was not his harshest assessment of the national men’s soccer team though, as he called them a “disgrace” and “embarrassing” after failing to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations after misinterpreting the qualification rules.
Mbalula also drove a heavy transformation agenda and in his time he was credited for improving the promotion of sports development at school level across the country.
Possibly the least spotlight-seeking minister of sport, arts and culture was Nathi Mthethwa. He served in the department from 2019 to 2023 before President Cyril Ramaphosa reshuffled his cabinet.
He was widely regarded as the bearer of bad news, frequently announcing and sending condolences for fallen artists, sports stars, administrators and other stakeholders in the sector.
Some called him the minister of condolences, and for him, his biggest gaffe, was probably trying to pay R22 million for a flag in the middle of Pretoria.
Then ushered in the embattled Zizi Kodwa into the position. How Kodwa will be remembered still remains to be seen, as he is currently in court on corruption charges involving R1.7 million.
Kodwa has been implicated in the State Capture Commission. It’s alleged that Kodwa accepted bribes before he took charge of the sports ministry.
Now as McKenzie takes the reigns, and being from a rival political party, it seems he is set on exposing all the shortcomings of the previous administrations - and he’s certainly off to an explosive start.
* Michael Sherman is a digital journalist at IOL Sport.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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