So Many Questions

Athletics in South Africa is a mess, yet Fikile Mbalula, the minister of sport, splashes out on sports awards. Chris Barron asked him . . .

Why shambles? is our athletics such a Because level — boardroom of infighting politics. at an executive

Is it not time for decisive action? I am ready to be decisive, but when the government intervenes and takes action, it is quickly told by the world bodies that if there is government interference, you will be banned. Meanwhile our athletics is going backwards? There is no doubt that powermongering and a lack of leadership have made us regress. What has happened to the leadership? Athletics is lucrative. Business has always wanted to sponsor athletics. And where money changes hands there is infighting. If business is so keen to sponsor athletics, why is it short of money? Money in athletics has been embezzled over time.

What can you do? We are looking at a review of governance models. Part of the problem is that athletes themselves are not represented on these bodies, which are dominated by people who are elected in a political context but do not have expertise.

You mean cadre deployment? I do not mean cadre deployment. I mean people elected politically from their own federations not on the basis of skills, but of political popularity.

Has this held back development? Yes. There is nothing athletics is doing at the moment except to fight for the survival of individuals. Why has a commission not yet been appointed to investigate claims of match-fixing in the pre-2010 World Cup games?

That is coming. Fifa has been demanding it for some time, has it not? We took it upon ourselves to convince Fifa and it agreed. If you were so keen, why has it taken so long? I think the Presidency has been applying its mind. What are you going to do about the expensive World Cup stadiums that have become white elephants? We have been grappling with the question of their viability. Do you agree that this has happened in spite of government assurances that it would not? Because of the pressures, I think we did not have a vision of what we wanted to achieve with the stadiums after the World Cup. Would it be fair to say the government ignored all the warnings? I do not think so. This was our first experience and it is up to us now to turn the situation around. We were under tremendous pressure to host the World Cup and did not examine some of the things that could have been done to make them viable. Was it a mistake for the government to force the Green Point Stadium on Cape Town? I think that, having learnt from others about the stadiums and their viability, we could have reacted better. What is your argument for spending R65-million on the annual sports awards? There is no R65-million spent on the sports awards. It is a blue lie. Is that not what you told parliament?

It was a projection. You told parliament R44million was coming from sponsors and R21-million from your department? You are talking as though R65-million in hard cash will come from the department and I am saying that is a blue lie. Wherever it comes from, how do you feel about that kind of money being spent on an awards ceremony?

I cannot comment on a fabrication. How can you justify bringing Beyoncé out? That question is like an old, scratched record.

Do you still want to bring her out? There was no Beyoncé. She was never touted to come to the sports awards.

Is that not what you told Kaya FM? I said there are people who want her to attend, but nothing has come to fruition. You are simply raising this issue out of mischief. Are you saying you never tried to bring her out? I am saying there is nothing that came from us. It is something that was raised by our partners. But you have brought big US stars out here, have you not?

Like who? Regina King, Regina Hall, Kimberley Elise . . . ? Those people came on the basis of my foundation. Did Regina King not come for the 2011 sports awards? That was the inaugural celebration of the sports awards, and that was it.

Was that a bad move on your part?

It was not a bad move at all. Then why do you not like to answer questions about it? I do not like to answer questions that are non-questions.