The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to explain why Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie remains in Cabinet amid concerns raised over his department, his political associates and the ownership of ticketing company Ticketpro.
In a statement released on Monday 5 October , the EFF raised concerns over reports that Bakang Lethoko, McKenzie’s former chief of staff, is now the chief executive officer of Ticketpro, which provides ticketing services to Cricket South Africa and the South African Football Association.
The party also claimed that Ticketpro was sold to a consortium that includes members of McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) and a person appointed by the minister to the boards of the National Film and Video Foundation and the National Arts Council.
The EFF said the developments were particularly concerning ahead of the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with potentially hundreds of millions of rands in ticket sales at stake.
The party questioned the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of Ticketpro, including its purchase price, the source of the funding and the process through which the company secured its ticketing agreements.
“The public is expected to believe in coincidence when a minister’s former chief of staff, his board appointee and his party’s own members land a multimillion-rand business on the eve of the biggest sporting event in the country’s recent history,” the EFF said.
The party further claimed that at least 19 people linked to the PA had been appointed to boards and directorates of public entities under McKenzie’s department.
It said the Public Protector had been approached to investigate whether McKenzie breached the Executive Ethics Code through the appointments.
The EFF also criticised the minister over findings by the Auditor-General concerning record-keeping and fraud at his department, claiming that McKenzie recently missed a parliamentary briefing on the findings to attend a Cricket World Cup schedule launch.
The party linked the latest controversy to a long-running legal dispute stemming from a R3 million gala dinner held in Sandton in 2022, when McKenzie was executive mayor of the Central Karoo District Municipality.
According to the EFF, the dinner was billed as a fundraiser for service-delivery projects in the Karoo, while donations were allegedly deposited into an account linked to McKenzie and the PA.
The party said the Western Cape High Court ordered McKenzie to provide information to forensic investigators and that he unsuccessfully challenged the order in the High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court.
The EFF said McKenzie exhausted his appeals in April and has since returned to court in an attempt to terminate the investigation, which it said remains incomplete more than three years after the dinner.
The party accused McKenzie of failing to meet the governance standards expected of a Cabinet minister.
“The EFF demands that President Cyril Ramaphosa explain why he continues to keep a minister in Cabinet who is under a forensic investigation he has spent years trying to stop,” the party said.
The EFF also called on the Public Protector to fast-track its investigation into PA-linked appointments.
It further demanded that the 2027 Cricket World Cup organisers and Cricket South Africa disclose how Ticketpro was appointed, who participated in the bidding process and the criteria used to select the ticketing company.
The party also wants McKenzie and PA-linked appointees to publicly disclose their interests in Ticketpro and any other entity doing business with the state or state-funded bodies.
The allegations contained in the EFF statement have not been independently established in the party’s statement, and McKenzie’s response to the latest claims was not included.