Sports department refutes minister's alleged bias in F1 bid process

THE Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC) has called the allegations made by the Cape Town Grand Prix SA (CTGPSA) team as “utterly baseless”.

- JEHRAN NAIDOO

CTGPSA, this week, suggested that the Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie acted in the best interests of Kyalami’s F1 bid and labelled the Bid Steering Committee (BSC) as a biased group, who also acted in Kyalami’s interests.

CTGPSA also raised concerns about the BSC’s handling of the R10 million deposit, which was part of the bid application process. Cape Town has proposed a street-style circuit, similar to that of Monaco. In order to bid to host the F1, each group had to submit an application motivating their location as well as making a deposit of R10m.

CTGPSA wanted to pay the deposit with a promissory note, which is a legal document outlining their intended loan repayment structure.

They said the BSC was “vague” about stipulations around the deposit.