SA Games of Shame

2008-08-17 09:39

Marlene Malan and Johan van Wyk

Cape Town - Beijing is South Africa's Games of shame.

The latest embarrassment is government's exhibition of R11m in the host city of the Olympic Games, which appears to be nothing more than an expensive flop.

A furious Minister of Sport Makhenkesi Stofile has already demanded an explanation from his officials.

They were supposed to use the ball room of the Westin Chaoyang, one of China's most luxurious hotels, to promote SA.

Millions were spent on hiring the venue for the duration of the current and Paralympic Games, booking 20 hotel rooms at almost R10 000 a night and specially made exhibition material. But the official who was in charge of SA's Ekhaya Olympic hospitality centre only arrived in Beijing three days before the start of the Games.

The imposing Jinmao ballroom where Ekhaya was supposed to be held, appeared largely empty on Saturday. The exhibition material was not delivered. It was stuck at Chinese customs.

The R11m bill for the huge marketing campaign is bigger than government's contribution for a year to the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

The Games have so far been an embarrassment for SA sport. The country has been unable to win a single medal - something that has never happened before.

A spokesperson for Stofile denied on Saturday that the minister was unhappy with the situation at Ekhaya, but the deputy minister of sport, Gert Oosthuizen, admitted there was trouble. He and Stofile are furious that the real goal of the hall was not being achieved, he said.

"It is a huge disappointment for us. One trusts that instructions are carried out. Now there are problems and we look inept. Urgent corrective measures are under way," he said.

He denied, however, that his department had invested too little in sport over the past four years.

- Rapport