New Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture Gayton McKenzie says he will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the majority of South Africans do watch national teams on television.  

The SABC could not broadcast the Springbok test series against Ireland in the past two weekends because it could not secure the rights. 

The majority of South Africa will also not watch the Springbok, who are the rugby World Cup champions when it hosts Portugal in the test match at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday (17:00)   

The issue of the Springbok not being shown on the public broadcaster has been an ongoing issue between the SABC and SuperSport TV, who are the right holders of the SARU.  

Mckenzie, to throw in questions and have answers, also met with SARU management in Cape Town on Thursday and this is one of the topics that was discussed.    

“I think we are halfway through it in our talks,” said Mckenzie at the burial of former Orlando Pirates technical director Stanley Screamer Tshabalala on Thursday. 

“I know how the talks are going to end. These talks will end when most South Africans are watching Bafana Bafana, the Springboks, and the national teams on TV.”  

Disgraced previous minister Zizi Kodwa also said it cannot be that the less fortunate people cannot watch the Springbok on the national broadcaster, but he too failed to get the matter resolved to see the Boks matches shown on the SABC before he resigned due to corruption.  

The president of Patriotic Alliance McKenzie said his task is to ensure the majority of South Africa is allowed to watch the national teams.  

“The national team belongs to people, it does not belong to broadcasters, it does not belong to politicians,” he insisted. 

“I will make sure I fight until the end to make sure that people are not denied to watch the national teams because they don’t have money for decoders, that will not happen.  

“I will fight for the people to be able to watch their teams. We must not come here with financial apartheid, because that is exactly what it is.”