Amidst promises of VAR by Gayton McKenzie, the Sports, Arts and Culture Minister has come under fire from Parliament, who have threatened to take up the matter with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
As the Department of Sports appeared before the Portfolio Commitee in parliament on Tuesday, unsurprisingly, according to members of the committee, Minister McKenzie and his deputy Peace Mabe were not in attendance.
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However, members of parliament were agitated by his continued no-show in the Portfolio Committee meeting and promised to take the matter to Ramophosa's office, if he is summoned and continues not appearing before Parliament.
"Mine is the discontent of the unavailability of the Minister (McKenzie) to appear before the Portfolio Committee. I think this is the fifth, if not the sixth meeting where the Minister is not attending. It has now become a norm for the Minister not to appear before the Committee," Gaolatlhe Kgabo of the ANC told the chair of the meeting, with SAFA also in attendance.
"It has become a norm for the Minister to undermine the deliberations and discussions that are taking place at the Portfolio Commitee. To a large extent, the Minister has concluded that he is not going to account before this Portfolio Committee.
"In the last meeting, we resolved that the Minister must be summoned... If he fails to appear, it's a different story, because we're able to take the matter with the President (Ramaphosa) because where we're sitting, this is an outright defiance," Kgabo stated.
Before starting the Portfolio Committee meeting, Chairperson of the Sport, Arts and Culture Joe McGluwa also made it clear McKenzie not showing up to account was unacceptable.
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It remains to be seen if the R90 million budget by the Department of Sports to fund the VAR rollout in the PSL will actually materialize, ahead of the new season.
McKenzie was apparently away in Brazil for an official visit.
