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South African Sports bosses have reacted with outrage to a proposal by the SA Tourism Department to sponsor Tottenham Hotspurs Football club to the tune of almost R1 Billion.

“Imagine leaving struggling South African federations and going off to sponsor a well-off club that is earning in pounds.

“It’s unbelievable and I definitely wouldn’t be a happy citizen in the sporting fraternity. Why isn’t that money not going to the Spar Proteas?

“Why isn’t that money not going into programs that will uplift us?”

The Department of Tourism, under Lindiwe Sisulu, has proposed a three-year deal worth £42.5 million (about R900 million) starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and ending at the end of the 2026/27 season.

‘The presentation revealed in exchange for the whopping investment, SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.’

Sisulu seems to have forgotten that South Africa also has sporting federations that have been struggling with funding issues, but perhaps access to pitch-side seats and all the perks that go along with the sponsorship of an already lucrative football club was the main aim. After all, our leaders are all about the perks, and besides, it’s YOUR money, not theirs.

Even Herman Mashaba smelled a rat.

Ridiculous!@LindiweSisuluSA & SA Tourism want to spend R1 billion sponsoring Tottenham Hotspur.

This to market a country without jobs, electricity or the Rule of Law.

Are there “success fees” involved?

Let’s rather start by fixing South Africa 🇿🇦https://t.co/DJDzMd5hph

— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) February 1, 2023

Sports bosses have been left fuming.

“We could do with the better investment in our own sport and investing in SA federations would’ve been a better strategy from Tourism SA.

“Our athletes represent our country and they’re ambassadors. It would be really disappointed if this is true because SA sport is not in a good space financially.”

We suspect that Sisulu will call opposition to this boneheaded idea racist and indicative of a constitution that is nothing but a nuisance to her claim as princess of the world.

Update: Even after a sermon-like media conference by CEO Themba Khumalo, meant to justify the R1 Billion losie, sanity prevailed and the SA Tourism board declared the deal a no-no. Committee chairperson Tandi Mahambehlala made the message quite clear to Minister Sisulu when she simply declared: “It ends here today, now.”

When there is this much money on the line, and you have a politician pushing for a proposal that is this strange, you have to wonder whether something dodgy is afoot. Sponsoring Tottenham Hotspurs is another level to a 100m flagpole.

Somebody promised someone something.

[source:citizen]