McKenzie demands return of R30m paid for delayed South African VAR project

South Africa’s Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has demanded that the South African Football Association (SAFA) return R30m provided by the government for the implementation of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, after the system failed to appear in the country’s top-flight football.

McKenzie said the money had already been paid but that VAR remained absent from the Betway Premiership. Speaking to the media at the Gauteng Sports Awards, he expressed his frustration with the continuing delays and warned that he was prepared to take the issue to FIFA if the impasse was not resolved.

The dispute has created growing tension between McKenzie’s department and SAFA over a project that was expected to bring VAR to South African football. The minister said he had formally written to the governing body and asked for the state funds to be returned.

“I then took 30 million Rand and I gave [it] to Safa and I can tell you now that’s where I can’t do more as the minister,” McKenzie said.

He said SAFA had asked for additional time to respond after receiving his letter.

“I wrote Safa a letter where I said they should return my money and Safa asked for 21 days grace. I am just as angry because what more can I do? I asked them in a letter bring back my money the money of the state, because I am responsible for it. They said they will act within 20 days, because for me there was no action.”

VAR has already been introduced in leagues elsewhere on the African continent, including in countries with smaller football economies than South Africa. However, the Betway Premiership continues to operate without the technology, despite the government funding allocated to make its implementation possible.

McKenzie said he believed he had taken all the steps available to him as minister and rejected any suggestion that he was responsible for the absence of VAR.

“We were supposed to have had VAR. So people shouldn’t look at me. I’m the minister that put it on the table that VAR should be there. I did everything humanly possible. If now I’m writing to FIFA, I’ve already spoken to FIFA, but I’m writing to them, they wanted in writing that I must go another way to get VAR.”

His remarks indicate that he has already held informal discussions with FIFA about the stalled project. He now appears ready to put those concerns in writing and seek an alternative route to securing VAR for South African football.

McKenzie did not explain how that alternative process would work or whether it could bypass SAFA. Any such move would represent an unusual escalation in the disagreement between the minister and the national football association.

The minister’s position is that the conventional process has been exhausted. He allocated the money, confirmed that it was paid to SAFA and then requested its return when the promised implementation did not take place.

SAFA’s request for a period of 20 to 21 days to act has so far produced no visible change, leaving McKenzie questioning where responsibility lies for the continued delay. He said he remained angry because, despite the funding and the government’s expectation that VAR would be introduced, there had been no tangible progress.