{"id":61010,"date":"2024-07-03T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T12:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/07\/03\/the-ex-gangster-who-has-become-south-africas-sports-minister\/"},"modified":"2024-07-03T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T12:03:46","slug":"the-ex-gangster-who-has-become-south-africas-sports-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/the-ex-gangster-who-has-become-south-africas-sports-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"The ex-gangster who has become South Africa\u2019s sports minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A former gangster and bank robber who turned into a nightclub owner and opposition politician, Gayton McKenzie has now risen to become South Africa\u2019s minister of sports, arts and culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Cyril Rampahosa appointed Mr McKenzie \u2013 the leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) \u2013 to the portfolio in the multi-party government that he announced on Sunday after his African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority in the 29 May election.<\/p>\n

A prolific tweeter, the 50-year-od relished his appointment,\u00a0posting a photo of himself putting on football boots\u00a0and, with a touch of humour, typed: \u201cThank you for all the well wishing messages, I will reply shortly I\u2019m just busy getting ready, I have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mr McKenzie\u2019s admirers, his appointment is the latest sign of how he overcame adversity to achieve success. He robbed his first bank before he turned 16, then became, as he put\u00a0in an interview with a local radio station, a fully fledged gangster, spent seven years in prison, and vowed to change after his release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might have had 12 rand in my pocket but I had billion rand in my mind. And that is what people do not understand \u2013 they concentrate on what they lack instead of how to get what they lack,\u201d\u00a0he said in a 2013 interview with public broadcaster SABC.<\/p>\n

He became a highly paid motivational speaker, got books about his life published, including A Hustler\u2019s Bible, and\u00a0ventured into various businesses \u2013 from mining in Zimbabwe to nightclubs in South Africa \u2013 with Kenny Kunene, his soulmate from prison.<\/p>\n

Mr Kunene earned the nickname \u201cSushi King\u201d after he had\u00a0sushi served on the bodies of women clad only in their underwear\u00a0at his 40th birthday bash at the Zar Lounge nightclub in an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa\u2019s main city.<\/p>\n

The nightclub subsequently shut, as did a branch in Cape Town registered in Mr McKenzie\u2019s name following legal action over alleged unpaid rent and electricity, according to the IOL news site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not interested in clubbing. I\u2019m busy with other projects. We killed the Zar brand \u2013 there are no future plans [for Zar],\u201d\u00a0Mr McKenzie was quoted as saying at the time.<\/p>\n

These days, he is better known as a politician, having launched the PA in 2013, with Mr Kunene as his deputy.<\/p>\n

More than a decade later, the party gained 2% of the national vote and fared better in elections for the provincial government in the Western Cape, getting 8%.<\/p>\n

Its support came mainly from the coloured community, as people of mixed race are known in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The PA\u2019s signature slogan is \u201cOns baiza nie\u201d, an Afrikaans phrase which loosely translates as \u201cWe are not scared\u201d. Afrikaans is widely spoken in the coloured community, which makes up around 8% of South Africa\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time there is coloured people also going to parliament through the Patriotic Alliance. We are the only party that takes all races to parliament,\u201d Mr McKenzie said, after the results were announced.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Kagiso Pooe told the BBC that Mr McKenzie had a \u201cbravado\u201d style, which appeals to his constituency.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to believe and see someone that comes from their type of background and isn\u2019t shy to say: \u2018This is who I am.\u2019 You see it with people like President Zuma, President Trump and other such personalities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McKenzie\u2019s campaign against undocumented migrants was a vote-winner for him, the analyst added.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, mainstream politicians and parties have shied away from this and he tackles it directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics denounced his campaign as xenophobic. He waged it under the slogan \u201cAbahambe\u201d, which he has translated from the Zulu as \u201cLet them go\u201d \u2013 and, in a publicity stunt, he visited the border with Zimbabwe to chase away people trying to enter South Africa.<\/p>\n

He was also accused of hypocrisy, as his critics pointed out that in the 2013 SABC interview he described immigrants from other parts of Africa, including Zimbabwe, as an \u201cintegral\u201d part of South Africa\u2019s economy, while \u201cthe problem with us is \u2013 black people I\u2019m talking about here \u2013 we are lazy\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Mr Ramaphosa began negotiations over the formation of a coalition government, Mr McKenzie publicly said that he wanted his deputy to run the home affairs ministry, which is in charge of immigration.<\/p>\n

He sought the police ministry for himself as he said his previous life as a gangster meant he was in a good position to tackle South Africa\u2019s high crime rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of them [other politicians] are equipped to deal with the mafias, with the murder rates we are seeing. South Africa needs me,\u201d\u00a0he was quoted as saying by the TimesLive news site.<\/p>\n

He was unperturbed when he failed to get the post, saying he had in fact asked for the sports ministry in \u201coff-the-record\u201d negotiations with the ANC.<\/p>\n

\u201cSport can be used to change children\u2019s lives. A child in sport is a child out of court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one promise I\u2019ve made: I will make spinning [of cars] one of the biggest sports in this country,\u201d he added in a live Facebook post.<\/p>\n

Car spinning is a recognised motorsport in South Africa \u2013 it involves vehicles being driven in circles and a driver climbing out to perform stunts.<\/p>\n

But there are many unregulated events and\u00a0as IOL sports journalist John Goliath wrote, stigma still surrounds it as a lot of people in the coloured, Indian and black townships often do spinning in the streets, which is viewed as dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spinning of tyres started in the townships as a ritual to honour fallen gangsters during the apartheid era,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McKenzie has promised to make it possible for car spinning to take place in a safe environment, and to help keep young people away from gangsterism and drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spinners will be recognised,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cWhen a boy has an interest in cars, he doesn\u2019t have time for drugs. He just worries about his car.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr Ramaphosa\u2019s decision to give Mr Mckenzie a seat in his cabinet is politically risky, as he is at the centre of an investigation ordered by the Western Cape government. It is controlled by the Democratic Alliance (DA), a fierce political rival of the PA, although they are now partners in Mr Ramaphosa\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Until last year, Mr McKenzie was the mayor of Central Karoo, and was accused of failing to account for 3m rand ($161,000, \u00a3127,000) raised at a glitzy gala dinner in 2022 to improve public services, including repairing swimming pools and replacing bucket toilets.<\/p>\n

According to local media, a court ordered him last month \u2013 just weeks before his promotion to the cabinet \u2013 to declare certain financial records to investigators.<\/p>\n

While the PA described the ruling as \u201cflawed\u201d,\u00a0the DA welcomed it, saying Mr McKenzie would \u201csoon learn that corruption does not pay off\u201d.<\/p>\n

The DA kept up the pressure by picketing last week in the small town of Beaufort West, which is part of Central Karoo, to demand answers about the money.<\/p>\n

Mr McKenzie said in a post on X\u00a0that he intended to visit the area to give \u201cfeedback\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth shall come out. I have nothing to hide,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cLies have short legs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The post The ex-gangster who has become South Africa\u2019s sports minister<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former gangster and bank robber who turned into a nightclub owner and opposition politician, Gayton McKenzie has now risen to become South Africa\u2019s minister of sports, arts and culture. President Cyril Rampahosa appointed Mr McKenzie \u2013 the leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) \u2013 to the portfolio in the multi-party government that he announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}