‘Where did the money go?’ – DA demands answers on McKenzie’s R31m World Cup bill

Gayton McKenzie

Cape Town – Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has come under fire from the Democratic Alliance (DA), which has accused him of being evasive about the estimated R31 million spent by the South African delegation during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In a statement, DA MP Leah Potgieter said the figures disclosed by McKenzie were only estimates and did not provide a full account of how taxpayers’ money was spent.

“The Minister disclosed an estimated expenditure of R31 million in South African taxpayer money. These are merely estimates, and the Minister’s evasiveness about specifics suggests something troubling,” Potgieter said.

She said the DA had repeatedly requested detailed information about the delegation, including the names of those who travelled, the total budget and how the trip was funded. According to Potgieter, the responses received contained inconsistent expenditure figures and failed to provide adequate detail.

Potgieter said the party would submit further parliamentary questions and request that McKenzie appear before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture to account for the expenditure and provide a detailed breakdown of the costs.

According to IOL, McKenzie said the expenditure covered international travel, accommodation, hospitality suites, match tickets, an exhibition match and other nation-branding initiatives.

He also explained that not everyone who travelled formed part of the department’s official delegation, with some individuals funded by the department, while others were sponsored or supported by implementing partners.

“It would be misleading to collapse all of them into one list and call them ‘the delegation’. What can be confirmed is that the department’s approved programme was a scaled-down FIFA World Cup support programme focused on Aldea Global, Atlanta, Monterrey, fan engagement, cultural promotion and the 2010 Legends-related activities,” McKenzie said.

According to the minister, the estimated R30.9 million expenditure included official travel, the Legends Exhibition Match, hospitality suites, spectator tickets and programme activations.

He added that travel-related costs for himself, two support staff, the department’s director-general and the project team were estimated at R7.8 million.

Picture: X/@GovernmentZA

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Compiled by Glaan Sibuyi

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