McKenzie hits out at media reports suggesting he went on a joyride at Paris Olympics

CAPE TOWN - Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie is crying foul over media reports that suggest he went on a joyride to the Paris Olympics that cost taxpayers R800,000. 

The cost of his trip to France was revealed in a parliamentary reply by his department. 

But McKenzie said it was a false portrayal that he went to watch the Olympics, when in fact he had several meetings for the country’s benefit.

To a question from the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Joe Mcgluwa, the Sport, Arts and Culture Department revealed that eight officials, including Minister McKenzie travelled to the Paris Olympics. 

McKenzie approved the expenditure of R1.8 million for their travel. 

To a second question from the DA's Liam Jacobs, McKenzie revealed his flights cost over R200,000, his ground transport over R400,000 and his accommodation over R100,000.

But he's been quick to hit back at media reports about the expenditure and the impression created that he went to watch the Olympics. 

In an X post, McKenzie said he attended six meetings in Paris before the start of the games, visited the athletes village to greet Team South Africa and attended the opening ceremony.

McKenzie went on to say that he watched hockey, gymnastics and the sevens rugby before returning home.

In another post, McKenzie said that he travelled to France to meet the ministers of other countries and came straight back to work to familiarise himself with his new portfolio.

McKenzie controversially clipped the wings of super fans travelling to international sporting events when he became minister 100 days ago, saying the money could be better spent to advance athletes.

Meanwhile, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) said they were still collating invoices and were not yet able to quantify the cost of sending 146 athletes to the games. However, an amount of R27 million was budgeted for this purpose.