Tom Eaton’s satirical and amusing comments about our ubiquitous, highflying minister of sport, arts & culture, Gayton McKenzie, contained an underlying message that should be of great concern to all South Africans. (“Gayton’s self-sacrifice speaks of noble numb-bum heroism at its finest”, June 10).
Along with other members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bloated cabinet, including deputy president Paul Mashatile, McKenzie has a dubious past and is an enormous BEE beneficiary himself, yet still sees the lavish use of the national purse for personal comfort and extravagant travel and accommodation as an entitlement befitting his current status in society.
His passionate pursuit of, and obsession with, an SA Formula One Grand Prix — a huge drain on public and private sector capital — likewise reveals his total disregard for the prudent use of taxpayers’ funds for the benefit of those members of our sporting, artistic and cultural communities that desperately require them to advance their careers and very livelihoods.
Hosting an F1 Grand Prix as stand-alone event at Kyalami in our crumbling City of Gold, or as a street race in another city, should be the furthest thing from McKenzie’s mind. It should be immediately dropped from his publicity-seeking, egotistical and elitist agenda.
Given the poverty, hunger, homelessness, disintegrating infrastructure, lack of basic services and bankrupt municipalities permeating our towns and cities, his endeavours are misguided, perhaps even immoral.
F1 can be used as a catalyst for industrial, commercial and residential development and the advancement of motor sport in our country. It has the potential to be a value generator for our economy, but McKenzie’s narrow-minded, self-serving vision of this event provides none of that. His ambitions of being a kingmaker in this money-sapping process should be stopped in its tracks.
David Gant
Kenilworth
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