Gayton McKenzie: I want to bring F1 back to South Africa

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie wants to bring Formula One racing back to South Africa. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/Independent Media

Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie wants to bring Formula One racing back to South Africa. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/Independent Media

Published Jul 22, 2024

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Sports, Arts and Culture minister Gayton McKenzie says he wants to bring back Formula One racing to South Africa.

Speculation reached a high in June last year that Formula One could make a return to South Africa at the Kyalami racetrack in Johannesburg. However, the idea was abandoned due to the SA government’s ties to Russia according to reports at the time.

In 2023, there had been a gap in the F1 calendar before the Belgian Grand Prix was finally cemented on the schedule.

McKenzie who previously said he wants to make spinning the number one sport in South Africa, weighed in on the F1 issue on X on Sunday night.

Meeting in Monaco

“I have set up meetings with relevant people already, my term will be a failure if I don’t bring one of the biggest sporting tourist events to South Africa which is F1. Our first meeting is end of August in Monaco,” said McKenzie.

The promises - populist others may say - that the Patriotic Alliance leader has made, have come large and quickly, and that has seen his popularity rise.

For example, the Covid-19 beneficiaries list has been seen as good and bad on the political spectrum.

It’s definitely a good thing that all the payments have been disclosed, including the total payout of over R72 million - but what about those people that applied for a bailout during Covid from government?

Did they agree to be publicly named? Almost certainly not.

Even before McKenzie saw to the releasing of this list, he promised to weed out corruption in his department.

@Golfhackno1

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— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) July 20, 2024