Press Ombud Rules On News24's Coverage Of Gayton Mckenzie's Olympic Jaunt

It was the summer of 2024, and Paris was sizzling. So too were many of us, when we found out just how much taxpayers money had been used to send Minister Gayton McKenzie to the Olympic Games: R804,591, the Minister told Parliament, including flights at R215,976, and ground transportation at R454,005.

In an article titled Send me! McKenzies gravy train to Paris Olympics cost taxpayers R800 000, published a few months after the games, News24s Jan Gerber compared the amount spent to send McKenzie R800,000 and his officials another R1-million with the average amount of R191,000 spent to send each of the 146 South African athletes who competed.

McKenzie told Parliament that the R804,590 included flights at R215,976 and ground transportation at R454,005.

With the R1-million spent to send the seven departmental officials, the costs totalled R1.8-million.