BENJAMIN LESHORO: Interference or intervention? Reflections on Gayton McKenzie’s first month in office

Gayton McKenzie's tenure as Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture has been nothing short of eventful, to say the least, in just one month in office.

He has been part of the trends list for different reasons and has definitely been a polarising figure among all stakeholders.

There's no doubt that a portfolio like the one he holds requires a fair amount of energy, considering what we've had to endure in the past.

Since Fikile Mbalula vacated that position some nine years ago, we've seen the likes of Thulas Nxesi, Thokozile Xasa, and Nathi Mthethwa take charge of this Ministry, and we can all agree that none of them possessed the kind of energy and vigour many would have liked to see for that specific job.

In Gayton McKenzie, the public has someone who at the very least meets that one criterion.

He further cemented his place among some South Africans' favourites list when he promised transparency in all the financial dealings of the department as one of the first tasks that he would undertake.

The first casualty of this policy was popular sport fan Joyce Chauke, known by her stage name ‘Mama Joy’. To be fair, the minister never at any point mentioned Mama Joy's name specifically, when he said that he would cut all funding for "super fans" that attend international sporting events on the government's bill.

It was then implied that she would suffer the most, having enjoyed some travelling privileges under both Mthethwa and McKenzie's predecessor Zizi Kodwa. How the latter's administration justified this was that this helped promote brand South Africa at international events, and also offers support from familiar faces for our national teams.

Whether that was a good enough reason or not, I found it strange that the new minister inadvertently targeted Mama Joy with claims that the money used there should be used to assist struggling athletes instead.

The reason I found it so bizarre was that firstly, there have been proposals by this department to erect a 100-metre flag that would have cost the taxpayer north of R22 million.

Secondly, it was not long ago when the government again stunned South Africans by lining up an eyewatering R1 billion to sponsor English football club Tottenham Hotspur, all in the name of promoting brand South Africa.

The two amounts mentioned above would obviously go a long way in helping our athletes representing the country, in comparison to the relatively diminutive figure spent on Mama Joy's travels. She is not the reason they are not getting adequate financial support. She is just an easy target to advance the populist ideas of a bully. 

One of the earliest opportunities to walk the talk for Mr McKenzie was Kgothatso Montjane's victory in the wheelchair doubles at Wimbledon, where she clinched her third Grand Slam title. 

Now this is the perfect example of an athlete who has struggled in the past to even get her coaching team on the flight to help her win on the international stage. She often had to travel alone and ask for help from other teams to help with her training so she could perform. What the minister should have done was take that opportunity and champion the KG Montjane narrative, making sure one of our best-ever tennis players wants for nothing. 

That would have laid down the marker for his tenure as a change-maker who offers more than just lip service. But instead, he could not even be at the airport to welcome her back. He truly missed a sitter.

What I have realised about Minister McKenzie is that he shoots from the hip, often saying things with no full understanding of how they work. One of those is the broadcast rights deals. This is an intricate process that involves many stakeholders, not to mention the huge amounts of money needed to secure them. 

Another example is how he doesn't seem to understand his role within federations. He's a minister and is a custodian of policy. He cannot decide which player or athlete should be included in any team to represent the country like he wanted to do with the Athletics SA and Luxolo Adams saga. 

However unfair it is to that athlete, it is not his place to pick a team. That's like ordering Hugo Broos or Rassie Erasmus to select a particular player because in his and the public's eye, the player should be in the Bafana Bafana or Springboks squads respectively. 

That is what we call interference, masquerading as intervention. 

What he should be doing is devising policy to address federations like Cricket SA's struggles with transformation, and to stabilise Boxing SA's relationship with the Promoters' Association.

The latest blunder from McKenzie has to be during the Miss SA storm that has surrounded Chidimma Adetshina. 

There has been public outcry that the 23-year-old should not even be allowed to enter the competition, let alone represent South Africa, given her Nigerian and Mozambican lineage. Now I'm not going to claim to know what right or wrong is here, or more key in this matter, what constitutes a South African. 

But what I do know are the facts. 

Like that she is South African-born, and that the rules of the contest allow her to enter. What I found disappointing yet again was how the minister chose to address the issue on social media, again choosing to comment without understanding the requisite merits of the case that a government official should solicit before doing so. 

Admittedly, he didn't have the facts and was to receive them the next day, but in his wisdom went ahead to reply to one question that "we cannot have Nigerians representing SA", and that "it's giving funny vibes already". This to me was shocking coming from a minister. It sounds like he's pre-empting what information he is to receive and has already made up his mind on the matter. 

But then again, maybe we're choosing to ignore what was already in front of us the whole time; the "Ma ba hambe" mantra that defined his election campaign. This, for me, defined how he's conducted himself since coming into office; like a loose cannon and without tact. 

Perhaps Minister Gayton McKenzie just needs to utilise a team to post on social media, or perhaps he just needs to cut down on the populist public outbursts. 

Yes, he may say things that create hype and get people excited, but someone needs to start advising him on each and every matter that arises in sport and the arts. Otherwise, he may just end up scoring more own goals than he already has.