Gloves are off between the South African Roadies Association (Sara) president Freddie Nyathela and Minister of Sports Gayton McKenzie over claims of fund embezzlement.
McKenzie threw the first missile at Nyathela and Sara during an interview with the SABC in July 2024. He said someone was given R20-million to renovate the Sara building.
“The public should know who is getting money. One individual was given R20-million, and the department said that it had bought him a building. Then the department said the R20-million was for renovation of the building.
“How can you renovate the building for R20-million? I am going to name that individual,” McKenzie said at the time.
He was speaking at the creative and cultural industries gathering event held by the department in August 2024 at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg.
Letter to parliament
Nyathela confirmed to this publication that McKenzie was referring to him regarding the R20-million that the department had dished out.
McKenzie said at the event: “Your organisation since I was appointed has been swearing at me on Facebook and Twitter every day. I actually wanted to retweet, as nobody had been retweeting you to get your traction.
“Come here and put your issues here and let us talk. Sometimes not everything is a fight. Teach me so I now know the importance of your sector,” he said.
“You can’t bully me, as I have been in jail too long to be bullied. They wrote me too many open letters the first week when I became a minister,” said McKenzie, an ex-convict.
In November 2024, Nyathela wrote a letter to the speaker of parliament, Thoko Didiza, stating that his organisation had written a complaint about the acting director-general of the Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture, Cynthia Khumalo, and sent it to the parliament portfolio committee on sports, arts, and culture.
In his letter, Nyathela claimed that Khumalo had told the committee false and misleading information about Sara.
Public protector’s intervention sought
He requested the intervention from Didiza, who, in return in December, advised him that since he had written to the portfolio committee, his concerns and complaints were in the right place to be addressed.
Nyathela responded to Didiza and the secretary of parliament, Deborah Martin, and copied MPs from different political parties who are in the portfolio committee of sports, arts, and culture, among others, in January, where he showed his disappointment and dismay.
After not getting pleasure from parliament, Nyathela wrote a complaint to the public protector.
In his complaint that the public protector had acknowledged to have received, Nyathela stated that McKenzie had spread lies about Sara and that he refused to have a meeting with the organisation.
Nyathela also accused the minister of blocking Sara from accessing funding to empower the youth in technical and creative skills.
Nyathela also stated that the portfolio committee had also refused to entertain him when he asked for intervention.
Minister asked to stop lying
On Thursday, Nyathela said: “The minister should stop making false and misleading statements about Sara and ganging up with a dishonest acting director-general to suppress Sara and relegate the black youth to ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’.”
“Why would a whole minister go on public platforms to lie about a unique and dynamic training organisation in Africa, that empowers the African youth with much-needed technical ‘live technology’ skills and employment opportunities?”
Nyathela said that McKenzie should not disregard his oath of office and the constitution to suppress youth empowerment and bully Sara.
“The youth need to be equipped with technical skills necessary to be creative innovators and technologists within the live events and wider arts and creative industries.
“Minister McKenzie should also note that Sara is not some game or fake; it is an internationally recognised and embraced training organisation.”
