Sports bodies say they have been plunged into financial turmoil after the department of sport, arts & culture (DSAC) slashed their annual grants, but sport minister Gayton McKenzie counters that the cuts are part of a new funding model, where more money will go to athletes directly.
Key Olympic codes like athletics and swimming have been hacked by 60%, and one of the biggest casualties was the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) — the umbrella organisation comprising all of the country’s more than 70 federations — which won’t receive a cent.
McKenzie said his department had also not budgeted for cricket federations, which were doing well financially, and basketball, which was being reconstituted. “There is no funding [annual grant] allocated to [Sascoc] for the 2025/26 financial year. This is primarily due to budget constraints,” DSAC’s acting CEO, Dr Cynthia Khumalo, wrote in a letter to Sascoc.
Sascoc received R17.5m in government funding for the 2023/24 year, 24% of its total revenue that period. The year before it received R12m (11.85%) and in 2021/22 R12.9m (13.9%).
But McKenzie pointed out that the DSAC had already given Sascoc R9m for the team to the age-group Region 5 Games in Namibia that wrapped up a week ago. “It would, therefore, be incorrect to say we do not fund Sascoc [this year]," he said, adding he was also facilitating more Lotto funding.
Last-minute funding
The DSAC had “had to find funding at short notice for Sascoc repeatedly”, he said. “We had to do the same thing to pay last-minute funding for the world athletics under-20 championships in Peru last year. The athletes were basically stranded at the airport, unable to leave, until we stepped in.”
While Sascoc has a healthy sponsorship deal with Bidvest — at R66m over four years, and also receives substantial income from the International Olympic Committee — many national federations rely heavily on their annual government grants.
McKenzie said the cuts totalled about R40m. “The money is still being invested into sport, just not directly through the federations.”
One sports official said federations were seeing cuts ranging from 40% to 60%. “We’re all in crisis mode now, trying to work out what to do,” the official said, adding the implications were serious. “Retrenchment. Programmes shut down.”
Many federations use the grants on development and transformation projects, as well as administrative costs.
Athletics South Africa (ASA), which has a 70-strong team competing at the African under-18 and under-20 championships in Nigeria, was told this week it would receive R1.2m. Last year ASA was given R3m. “We will work with what we’ve got,” said ASA president James Moloi, adding he would not compromise on preparation camps ahead of the senior world championships in Tokyo in September.
Funding all qualifiers
A key policy of the Moloi administration has been selecting and financing every athlete who qualifies for a global event.
ASA’s campaign to Japan is expected to cost around R5m.
Cash-strapped Swimming South Africa already requires most competitors to pay to get to international competitions.
Athletics and swimming are the biggest providers of Olympic silverware, delivering a combined 34 of the 44 medals won since readmission at Barcelona 1992. “This is going to kill a lot of federations,” warned an administrator. “There’s massive anger.”
Much ire seems to be directed at McKenzie because of the way he has splashed the cash to help some sports and individuals, as well as his attempts to lure F1 and LIV golf to the country, both expensive endeavours.
Investing directly into athletes
The minister said the department was investing in a shared office building that would benefit smaller federations financially. “This is part of our strategy to invest every cent more directly into athletes.”
McKenzie said his Project 350 — an ambitious target to qualify 300 Olympians and 50 Paralympians for the 2028 Los Angeles Games — would have its own funding system, separate to federations, which would be “announced shortly”.
Team South Africa fielded 149 Olympians and 32 Paralympians at the Paris showpiece last year and a record 179 Olympians and 34 Paralympians at Tokyo 2020. South Africa had 64 Paralympians at Sydney 2000.
“We want to make sure the money ends up where it is supposed to go — to the athletes themselves and not to administrators buying fancy lunches and champagne or [federation] presidents using a federation credit card at shebeens and bottle stores,” said McKenzie.
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