Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa has expressed concerns having heard that journalists have not been allowed back at DStv Premiership and GladAfrica Championship matches since 2020.
The football media last attended football in March 2020, before the national lockdown due to the covid-19 crisis. While other sporting codes began to allow journalists back at games later that year, football media have not been able to return to stadiums, other than for CAF intercontinental games and for recent Bafana Bafana internationals organised by SAFA.
The PSL did allow media for the MTN8 Final as a ‘test run’, while media were also accredited for this month’s DStv Compact Cup.
Mthethwa was speaking to Thabiso Tema on Power98.7 when he expressed surprise on hearing that football media had not returned, and said they should have been allowed to go during the hard lockdown even.
“The regulations are clear that among the people who have to be at stadiums are the media,” Mthethwa told Thabiso Tema’s on Power98.7 on Thursday according to TimesLIVE.
“I am hearing about this for the first time here from you and I don’t think it is a correct thing,” Mthethwa said.
“This is because we were saying even when we were under a hard lockdown that the public needs to be informed about what is happening.
“Even if spectators are not allowed at all, the world and the country has to be informed about what is happening.
“So from this engagement with you I really would like to interact with the confederation of sport, which is Sascoc, to inquire whether they know about this because it doesn’t sound right.
“This is especially because there are protocols that will need to be observed and somebody must report whether in all our social stations we are observing those protocols.”
