Minister Gayton McKenzie VAR funding plans questioned in Parliament

Speaking during the committee’s meeting with SAFA yesterday, ANC representative David Kgabo questioned whether the department followed proper procedures in committing its budget to the VAR project. 

The department’s Director General, Dr Cynthia Khumalo, revealed that two events had to be compromised to accommodate this funding.

"It was funded through reprioritisation in programme two, under two sub-programmes, which is the sport federation's support and the Big Walk event," revealed Dr Khumalo.

McKenzie first pronounced the Ministry’s intention to help SAFA with VAR funding in September last year, following his meeting with the SAFA NEC in Gqeberha.

DSAC Chief Director of Winning Nation, Simphiwe Mncube admitted the VAR project was not actually budgeted for, but stressed that no money has been paid to SAFA for this allocation as yet.

"At this point, there is no funding that has gone out already or paid on VAR, noting what was earlier presented by SAFA that they are still in the stages of tendering to actually determine the actual cost thereof. So there is no expenditure to date on VAR," defended Mncube.

Dr Khumalo further elaborated that, while the reprioritisation of funds has already happened to the projected figure of R80 million, they have yet to establish the exact cost and therefore exact amounts have not yet been allocated.

"We've not funded, in [the SAFA] presentation, they did indicate that they have initiated the processes to a stage of receiving proposals, so there is an amount, after reprioritisation, which is set aside for this," she added.

"And the Chief Director [Mncube] was explaining to a question from another member [of Parliament] here that initially it was R80 million, and it was a projection, but obviously it is being subjected to a process of seeking proposals and adjudication to determine the actual amount."

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