The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has once again found himself at the centre of online scrutiny.
This week, the 52-year-old, affectionately known as the self-proclaimed “Minister of happiness,” took to social media platforms, announcing that he had a stack of tickets for an upcoming Travis Scott concert, ready to give away.
In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter), he can be heard saying:
“We have tickets to give away to you. We are the ministers of happiness, the ministers who make things happen.
“I think there are 2000 tickets left, which you can buy if you have money. If you do not have, you know where to hit us up – on the socials,” he concluded.
Travis Scott tickets up for grabs 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽🕺🏽 pic.twitter.com/0FIKitEPVj
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) October 9, 2025
Regardless of how pure his intentions may have been, those in the comment section were unimpressed.
Many accused the minister of misusing the taxpayers’ money to purchase tickets, adding that the money could have been used to uplift South Africa’s homegrown talent in the arts community.
“Internationals are supported, but there are a lot of SA talents that don’t get such support,” noted one user in reference to the recent festival funding cuts.
Meanwhile, another added:
“We don’t want Travis Scott tickets. We want sporting facilities in townships and rural areas to be restored. We want our local arts and culture to be promoted, not American culture.”
Others are skeptical about the rapper’s visit following the Astro World festival tragedy, which claimed several lives in 2021.
“Don’t go to that evil concert. People will die there!” Another user added.
Travis is expected to perform at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium this Saturday as part of his Circus Maximus Tour.
Also see: Minister Gayton McKenzie calls festival organisers ‘entitled’ amid recent funding cut