Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has dismissed claims of a leadership crisis in South African sports administration, despite ongoing scandals in several federations. During a press conference in Pretoria on 4 November 2025, McKenzie highlighted successes in rugby, cricket, and other bodies while announcing funding for national teams. He emphasized constitutional protections and international rules limiting government intervention.
On Tuesday, 4 November 2025, Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie and Deputy Minister Peace Mabe held a press conference in Pretoria to outline their vision for South African sports. Addressing concerns about governance, McKenzie pointed to positive examples, including the South African Rugby Union under president Mark Alexander and Cricket South Africa under Rihan Richards. He also praised the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) led by Barry Hendricks for reforming a previously corrupt organization. "Even Sascoc... took over a rotting Sascoc, where I’m told people were buying Rolls-Royces with the money of Sascoc. So, I must give it to Sascoc for turning it around," McKenzie said.
However, several federations face serious issues. Athletics South Africa plans to suspend president James Moloi for allegedly misusing credit cards at entertainment venues and funding trips for his girlfriends to international events. Former Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane remains suspended amid investigations into misconduct and financial maladministration by World Netball. In football, South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan was arrested a year ago on fraud charges alongside financial officer Gronie Hluyo and PR owner Trevor Neethling. The allegations involve Jordaan using Safa funds for image-cleaning services ahead of the 2018 elections, following a rape accusation by Jennifer Ferguson related to an incident in the early 1990s. Swimming South Africa has also reported problems.
McKenzie argued that government intervention is limited by the Constitution, which presumes innocence until proven guilty, and by international bodies like FIFA. Despite fraud charges, FIFA appointed Jordaan to its men’s national teams competitions committee in October 2025. "Fifa also looks at the Constitution. They don’t look at my feelings or your feelings. Not only have they kept Danny Jordaan, but they promoted him to another committee of Fifa," McKenzie stated. He denied a crisis, saying, "Do I think there’s a crisis? I don’t think there’s a crisis. There’s a rise in our sports."
The minister announced funding support: R5 million to Safa for Bafana Bafana's preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations and 2026 World Cup; R1 million each to Banyana Banyana for Wafcon, Amajita for U-20 Afcon and World Cup, Proteas Women after their World Cup final loss, and Springbok Women post their 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup success; and R500,000 to the U-17 boys’ team at the Qatar World Cup. This follows a R5 million advance in December 2024 to cover Safa salaries. McKenzie also addressed the 'Teboho Mokoena-gate' incident, where Safa fielded the suspended Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder against Lesotho due to an administrative error by team manager Vincent Tseka, who was absent fetching ice. Safa attributed this to resource shortages amid its bloated executive.