Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie is accused of cadre deployment and is facing renewed scrutiny over the appointment of at least 19 people with links to his Patriotic Alliance (PA) to boards and directorates of public entities under his department.
An investigation found that the appointees were PA members or people with direct access to the party’s leadership, with appointments spanning institutions including the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), National Library of South Africa (NLSA), National Arts Council, Boxing South Africa and several theatres and museums.
The appointments are significant because some of the positions involve decisions over the management and funding of public entities, productions, programmes and festivals.
The Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) adjudication panel has also come under scrutiny, with Steve Motale, Vernon Vraagom and Francisco Tejada among those identified in relation to the 2025/26 panel.
DA MP and Sport, Arts and Culture spokesperson Leah Potgieter said South Africans deserved opportunities based on merit rather than political connections.
“South Africans deserve a fair shot, not jobs for political insiders. The DA will not let Gayton McKenzie escape the rules and the law on this disgraceful cadre deployment. Government must work for all, not just the connected,” Potgieter said.
“At least 19 senior government jobs are occupied by Gayton’s own insiders, not by independent, non-political experts. Are South Africans to be excluded by McKenzie at every turn?” she said.
Potgieter said the DA had previously raised concerns about what it described as cadre deployment under McKenzie, including the appointment of PA members to the MGE adjudication panel and positions at institutions such as the NLSA and Boxing South Africa.
The latest allegations follow a complaint the DA lodged with Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka in July, calling for an investigation into whether McKenzie breached the Executive Ethics Code through appointments linked to the allocation of public funds.
The DA’s complaint centred, among other issues, on the 2025/26 MGE adjudication panel, which consisted of six members. The party alleged that three – Motale, Vraagom and Tejada – were active PA members at the time of their appointment.
Potgieter argued that the appointments raised questions about whether political affiliations were influencing decisions involving public money.
The PA, however, rejected the DA’s complaint, describing it as a “headline-seeking stunt with zero evidence”.
PA spokesperson Steve Motale said McKenzie had answered questions put to him in Parliament and had also responded publicly to the allegations.
“He has never had anything to hide, and he has never ducked a debate, committee appearance, or follow-up question,” Motale said.
The controversy comes amid wider criticism of McKenzie’s management of the Sport, Arts and Culture portfolio.
In July, the DA also approached the Public Protector over almost R31 million spent on the department’s 2026 FIFA World Cup programme, questioning the transparency and accountability surrounding the expenditure.
McKenzie has defended the programme and said the department was finalising a full reconciliation of the spending. He has also faced criticism from sections of the arts sector over funding decisions.
