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REFRESHING
Have you ever wondered why you always see the same faces at sporting events as I know I have. Travel these days costs a small fortune and quite rightly the new Sports Minister who is in charge of Sport Arts and Culture is finding out what the previous Government was doing.
"I can't wait for the Olympics in Paris" I guess she is no longer going and the Water Polo teams will be going instead.
Last year when the Rugby World Cup was taking place a group of around 50 people was filmed arriving at Charles De Gaulle airport singing and dancing. This makes sense now as they were being paid an all expense trip to the tournament under the guise of being brand ambassadors for South Africa.
5 star hotels, tickets to the matches and expenses covered for the entire 7 weeks would be very expensive out of the reach of 99.9% of South Africans. The bill for just 2 of these brand ambassadors cost the tax payer R1.3 million ($70K).
When one thinks that we always hear the same old story that certain athletes and musicians are struggling and receive no assistance from government due to lack of funds. The SA water polo teams for the Olympics later this month have bee told there are no funds for them yet we kind of know why. The funds are there, but they are all being spent in the wrong areas. These two "super fans" in the above expense have been seen at all the other major sporting events throughout the year. The above bill does not include food and drink and expenses.
When you consider nearly half the country is unemployed and cannot afford the basics to survive living on the R350 grant per month. This one trip for 2 people would have provided another 3600 grants.
What makes no sense is SA never qualified for the World Cup in Qatar yet the so called "super fans" went on that trip and dare I say it they must have all been connected within the government. We are not talking about a few million here and there, but literally hundreds of millions. The 50 odd "brand ambassadors" that attended the Rugby World Cup alone would have blown in excess of R50 million and how do you justify that type of spending. If this is just the Sports Ministers budget the mind starts to wonder what is being spent in the other portfolios.
The arguments from so many on social media is that black people cannot afford to go and at least they are being represented. This is not true as at most sporting events affluent blacks are in attendance along with the other fans and these are the true ambassadors of South Africa. These people are not being paid to attend these events and are doing it because they are genuine supporters.
I think we have to see this as being refreshing when a new minister comes in and sees what is wrong with his portfolio and starts to fix things. We know this new minster is no saint, but at least he has started out on the right foot and that is what counts right now.