NATIONAL NEWS - Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, yesterday revealed that a significant meeting to secure the first Formula 1 (F1) race for South Africa since 1993, will take place in the next two weeks.
McKenzie said companies like MTN, MultiChoice, Heineken and many others have expressed their support for this initiative.
He said these potential sponsors will be present at the meeting with Formula 1 at the end of the month.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday while presenting his R6,3 billion budget, McKenzie said many people laughed when he said F1 must return to South Africa.
"One man who didn’t laugh was Toby Venter, the owner of the Kyalami racetrack."
“When I told him that government doesn’t have the money to host Formula 1 because of other more urgent priorities and that we would not be able to help him pay for the track to reach F1 standards, he looked me in the eye and said he would see it as his patriotic duty to do just that."
He said they have had multiple meetings with the management of F1, with a crucial one happening in the next two weeks.
“To those who say the country can’t afford to host the F1, I’m saying the country can’t afford not to.
We hosted the best Fifa World Cup. We put our country on the map for big events and should not turn back now.”
According to McKenzie, what will be different this time is that government will not be expected to pay.
He stressed that those who believe that F1 is not important should consider the countries that are holding onto their F1 spots on the calendar.
“The host countries see the value in it and it can’t be called a world championship if it misses an entire continent, sub-Saharan Africa in particular.”
Spinning
He also thanked everyone who joined the mission to promote the sport of spinning, including Red Bull and Cell C.
“People were laughing when we said we’re going to make spinning big, but already this sport has left the townships and now Sam Sam is wowing the likes of Max Verstappen with his skills in Austria.”
Samkeliso Thubane, known as Sam Sam, is a prominent South African spinning motorsport athlete sponsored by Red Bull.
He is recognised as the world’s first official Red Bull spinning athlete and has gained international acclaim for his skills, performing at the reopening of Red Bull Hangar-7 in Austria.
LIV Golf
The country is exploring the potential of bringing a LIV Golf tournament, a professional men’s golf tour, to South Africa as early as next year.
“Golf has not broken through to the masses and we hope to achieve that with LIV Golf. It’s not only golf, but also culture,” McKenzie said.
The minister said he hoped to eclipse Australia’s attendance of more than 100 000 at a single event over three days.
Olympics
He said the draft Olympics document has been developed and plans are being finalised to send as many athletes as possible to the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
He said that he travelled to Olympic House in Switzerland last year to express South Africa's interest in hosting the Summer Olympic Games in 2036.
VAR
McKenzie announced that they are finalising the funding process for video assistant refereeing (VAR) to ensure fairness in football matches - from the Premier Soccer League to international fixtures - meeting global standards.
“It is a necessity. We see stadiums vandalised when bad refereeing happens.
"The success of teams like Mamelodi Sundowns makes global teams want to play here, but they get second thoughts because we don’t have VAR."
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