Joe McGluwa chaired his last meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture on Friday. He is leaving for local government.
He told MPs at the meeting on 13 November 2026 that he was not saying goodbye.
“I’m not saying goodbye, I’m simply going to play a role in another sphere of government, where it matters the most. That is local government, where service delivery touches people’s lives every single day.”
McGluwa thanked Minister Gayton McKenzie and recalled their phone calls.
“Thank you for the engagement. Sometimes you have called me Chair of Chairs with a big smile, saying, ‘Eish, jy’t my vandag klaar gemaak [you finished me off today]. I’m going to report you to your wife.’ And there were times you called and said, ‘Chair, you were trending today,'” he recalled.
He also told how the minister once reacted to a hard grilling from MP David Kgabo.
“The best message I received from the minister said, ‘Yo, Honourable Kgabo is braaing this old man. He’s going to get a heart attack.’ I was forced to say, ‘Honourable Kgabo, your time has expired.'”
He also praised the committee members.
“I know this will not be easy for you, because we were a formidable team. You were the best at opening a can of worms when the can of worms needed to be opened. Never forget that we had good times and we did good work together. You have made me feel strong in all of these meetings,” he said.
He thanked his wife, Nadia, and his daughters for the support.
“Words cannot describe my appreciation of your support,” he said.
McKenzie joined late. When he spoke, he said he had been listening and had been moved to tears.
“I was listening to you. I had to go and get some tissue to wipe the tears of appreciation. Honourable Chair, I want to say this from the depth of my heart. We can fight, and then immediately I will call you, and you will advise me on so many things. I don’t take that for granted. And I say this without any fear, you have truly shared what you know about government with all of us, the DG and myself. You have never brought politics into this portfolio committee. You have been one person I could call, knowing you would not use what I asked you against me tomorrow,” said McKenzie.
McGluwa had joked about the minister always offering him two tickets to games. McKenzie said the tickets were never for McGluwa himself.
“You are also a different person. You care. You ask for tickets, but they are not for yourself. Every time you ask, it is for other people. It is for community members. People will say, ‘Thank you for the tickets,’ and I ask, ‘Where did you get them from?’ They say, ‘We wrote to the portfolio committee chairperson.'”
McKenzie said he feared McGluwa’s next team.
“Wherever you go, I am scared, because I know you are going to make them stronger, so I won’t be able to defeat them easily. But thank you so much, brother. Thank you from the department, from all of us. You have truly been, in my opinion, one of the best portfolio chairs I have ever had the opportunity of working with. And I mean that,” he said.
McGluwa then asked the committee to get on with its last job.
“So let us do this last work well today. Let us hold these entities to account. Let us not embarrass them, but let us fix them,” he said.