SA Rugby president Mark Alexander and Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie both pay tribute to the 40-year-old collaboration with SAB through its brand Castle Lager. Photo: Sipho Siso

Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie lauds Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus for finding the right race balance in the Boks squad and turning it into a winning machine. Photo: Sipho Siso

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As much as Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie would want to honour the cricketing side the Proteas as test cricket champions of the world, he believes the way ‘we are raking in accolades the country will soon be bankrupt’.

Speaking at the launch of the Castle Lager BokTowns viewing platform for those who cannot make it to the stadiums, McKenzie described South Africa as one of the leading world sporting nations as ‘most of our men and women in various sporting codes are now punching above their weight and continue to rake in accolades after accolades’.

“As much as I would like to honour the cricketing side the Proteas for being crowned world champions of test cricket, the way these accolades are literally falling from the sky like manna, the way we’re winning – the country would soon run bankrupt,” McKenzie told Sipho Siso News in an interview.

McKenzie had been asked whether there would be bonuses paid to the cricketers in as much as it was done for rugby champions and he responded that he was planning to do so but was equally perturbed public funds would soon run dry.

“The way we’re winning, I don’t know whether I will have enough money to pay everybody. South Africa is a great sporting nation that is on the marching for accolades. By the look of things, the country will soon run bankrupt,” he said.

McKenzie lauded South African Rugby president Mark Alexander as ‘the best president we have ever had to lead this sporting code to the success it currently enjoys’. “I say big up to him for his wise leadership and the fact that he’s putting the money where the mouth is – the development of this sporting code,” the Minister said.

He said gone are the days when people misused public funds for their own benefit. “In the Government of National Unity, we have undertaken to make people accountable for the public funds they are entrusted with. We would like to see all the funds going to the projects they are earmarked for and not in some bureaucrat’s pocket,” McKenzie added.

He also had good words for Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus, saying he is the only coach who has managed to balance the race ratio in the Springboks team. “When last did you hear the public cries for the inclusion of people of colour in the Boks team? The reason that no one is taking race anymore in the Springboks team is simply because Rassie has managed that element with distinction and the Boks are winning left, right and centre.

“I take my hat off for him. May he live long in the coaching job of the Springboks, and he will rake accolades upon accolades. Everybody is now silent and we’re all basking in the glory that Rassie has brought to this country as coach of the Bokkes,”
McKenzie said.

SA Rugby president Mark Alexander described rugby as not just a mere sport but has become a part of the culture of the country. “South African Breweries’ collaboration with rugby is not just a mere sponsorship but a project to build the rugby culture and develop up-and-coming rugby players for posterity’s sake. I am proud of the 40-year partnership we have had with SAB and its brand Castle Lager,”
Alexander said.