Fikile meeting FC Barcelona when he should be in Parliament

30 November 2016

The DA has learnt that the Minister of Sports and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula, will today be absent from Parliament, where he is expected to be answering oral questions, and will instead be meeting with FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.

The official reason given last week for his absence was: "Minister meeting with Spanish Champions League” and Leadership of FC Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.

The Minister should be accounting for his performance in Parliament instead of taking selfies with Spanish football leaders like an enthusiastic groupie. For someone who loves the spotlight so much, it seems telling that Mbalula is dodging the opportunity to appear before Parliament.

The Minister has throughout the year treated Parliament with contempt. This will be the third time in two years that he has dodged parliamentary questions by gallivanting elsewhere. He has regularly failed to attend oral questions sessions without proper explanation, and consistently dodges replying to written questions. In addition, he once again failed to appear in the portfolio committee to present his Department’s annual report.

We will also be submitting parliamentary questions to ascertain whether taxpayers’ money was used for the Minister’s trip to Barcelona.

It would do the Minister and his Department well for him to tweet less, and attend to his parliamentary duties instead of meeting with football teams overseas.

Issued by Solly Malatsi, DA Shadow Minister of Sports and Recreation, 30 November 2016