Gayton blows whistle: Minister wants to know who benefited from Covid grants

SPORTS Minister Gayton McKenzie is on a mission to find out who really benefited from government grants during the pandemic.

The new minister is on a campaign to discover which payments were made incorrectly from the list of Covid-19 beneficiaries by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSCA) for 2020/2021.

On Wednesday, McKenzie published a list with 3,962 beneficiaries - supposedly stakeholders in the sports, arts, TV, film and creative sectors.

It was reported the amount paid out was a whopping R72 million, with payments ranging between R2,000 and R75,000 it was .

The once off payments were meant to help the beneficiaries as the government imposed strict lockdown conditions, shutting down theatres, social events, TV productions and sports.

McKenzie has stressed that he was revealing the lists for the sake of transparency, and that the Covid-19 list in particular was not a shame list.

But he has also said he wanted to dispel the notion that government did not support artists.

McKenzie tweeted on Thursday: “We will not be deterred, this is not your money, this is not my money, this is public money and the public must know who got money from them.

“(DSAC) @SportArtsCultur must show that they were there for artists during the worst times and also expose those that misused the opportunity.”

He said more lists would be revealed, as he was also intent on weeding out corruption.

He adds: “We already have people who came forward that didn’t receive money nor applied but are listed as having received.

“We have people not aligned to the arts who received money, we saw people who are not from SA benefitting. Wait & see after all lists have been released today & tomorrow.” (sic)

It was revealed the eight people who got the R75,000 payments were largely in the entertainment and filmmaking sector, while it appears only a handful of sports people benefited.

Socialite Mohale Motaung was seemingly awarded the maximum R75,000 for his makeup, styling and dress-making business, which was targeted at matric pupils.

Neither the DSAC nor McKenzie has explained what criteria was used to mark the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, one of South Africa’s best prospects of a medal at the Paris Olympics, 100-metre sprinter Akani Simbine received a single payment of R20,000.