South Africans Fume Over Government’s R1 Billion Sponsorship For Harry Kane’s Tottenham Hotspur
South Africans are up in arms in fury over the government’s proposed plan of a R1 Billion sponsorship for English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
This comes after explosive revelations made by the publication, the Daily Maverick.
The Daily Maverick revealed that the South African government, through its marketing agency SA Tourism, is preparing to ink a deal worth R910,997,814.75 to sponsor Harry Kane’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Part of the article reads,
“What the PowerPoint presentations reveal is that the South African government, through its marketing arm SA Tourism, is seriously considering a proposal to spend close to R1 billion to sponsor one of the world’s most elite soccer teams.
“Sources close to the matter told Daily Maverick that it was on the verge of being finalised, with Sisulu allegedly eager for the deal to be sealed before the impending Cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa moves her out of the Tourism portfolio, as is expected.
“Sisulu did not respond to a direct question as to whether she was indeed personally championing the deal.”
However, South Africans were not impressed with the proposed sponsorship deal. They accused the government of having misplaced priorities and of being driven by vanity.
Many accused the government of being insincere in addressing social ills in the country and highlighted how the R1 billion could be better spent empowering the South African economy. They claimed that the SA government is out of touch with reality.
Award-winning South African media personality Andile Ncube posted,
“Here we go!!! Another flag!!! If this is true, Why !!? How ?!? For what ?!? No man!!! The f*ck!!!
“There’s 16 @OfficialPSL teams, and most struggle with sponsors, and every day we point fingers at teams like @Moroka_Swallows for having money issues, yet this big brand that’s been part of SA fabric for so long gets no help, but @SpursOfficial do?
“@SpursOfficial should know that if they were to take money from SA government, it is ‘blood money’!”
Below are more responses from furious South Africans over the government’s proposed R1 billion sponsorship of Tottenham Hotspur:
Nina Nortje
“This is crazy! We have people living way below the bread line, an economy crippled by load shedding – now this??
“This cannot be allowed to happen; this is taxpayer funds that should be used for South African infrastructure – like roads !!”
@ViwePotelwa
“We want to boost tourism whilst we have unreliable power issues? That money should go towards efforts to stabilize our power, then we can discuss advertising to ask tourists to come here.
“Talk about putting the cart before the horse. These relics in Parliament need to retire, man.”
Bill Nash Nash
“It is hard to believe that we could be contemplating a “deal” like this.
“As I write this comment, we are facing water shortages in Johannesburg because of ongoing loadshedding for a month, and we are at level 5 loadshedding (again).
“Durban and Cape Town beaches have sewerage issues, and the economy is tottering (with businesses closing daily) as a result of ongoing loadshedding.
“As good as this deal may be…. Surely we have other priorities??
This “deal” should go the way of the giant flagpole, please!
“CR, please give your team a reality pill!!!”
@Tay_Dlamini
“There is no money in SA, but our ministers still find a way of excelling with wasting money!”
Heinrich Holt
“While our township children do not even have footballs to play with… this now gives a new meaning to clueless and out of touch.”
Thinker And Doer
“This proposed deal is an outrageous waste of money; there are so many ways that it could be spent to effectively promote tourism and benefit the industry. How can this even be contemplated?”