Mbalula again dismisses DA claims on Mayweather trip
Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula on Sunday again dismissed claims by the Democratic Alliance that his department paid for boxing champion Floyd Mayweather’s 2014 visit to South Africa and that Mbalula used taxpayers’ money to go to Las Vegas in the US.
The ministry had noted “yet another limelight hogging statement” by Democratic Alliance MP Solly Malatsi, he said.
“The statement released by Malatsi and his masters in the media that I lied and misled Parliament is the kind of hogwash that the ministry will not dignify with a reply. Malatsi and his handlers in the media must learn to respect ministerial responses to their accusations and allegations.
“Malatsi and his masters must stop grandstanding and phrase-mongering and bring the so-called proof to Parliament.
“The department of sport and recreation SA did not pay for Floyd Mayweather[‘s] visit to South Africa and [the] minister did not use taxpayers’ money to go to Las Vegas, full stop. I rest my case,” Mbalula said.
Earlier on Sunday, Malatsi accused Mbalula of being untruthful about Mayweather’s “Reawakening the Giant” tour of South Africa in 2014, saying there were invoices to prove it.
“Despite the minister’s repeated claims that his department did not spend a single cent for the Mayweather tour, the DA is in possession of two invoices as well as two corresponding payment certificates in the public domain, for a total of R304,950 paid to sports media company, Frontiers Sport, by the department of sport and recreation for an event directly linked to Mr Mayweather’s tour,” Malatsi said.