F1 News: Wakanda Smart City wants to host South African GP

The prospect of a South African Grand Prix return has stolen the headlines on the back of Minister of Sports Art and Culture Gayton McKenzie meeting with F1 and FIA leaders in Baku last week. It has also emerged that several possibilities exist with a view to hosting the race. Among them, the new Wakanda Smart City now insists on a free and fair parliamentary bid process to determine who should host a future Grand Prix.

“We are spearheading a bid to host the future South African Grand Prix at the new Wakanda Smart City,” bid director MK Malefane confirmed. “We are not the only group ready to make a bid to run the South African Grand Prix, but we have the backing and the funds to run the race without dipping into government coffers. All we now seek is the free and fair opportunity to present our case as part of a clear selection process.

“Our biggest challenge is that it seems that there is a preferred bidder and that there is an attempt to rush that bid through, let’s just call it under the carpet. That would be neither free, nor fair. It is no secret that South Africa’s Minister of Sports Art and Culture Gayton McKenzie visited last weekend’s Baku Grand Prix and met with FIA and Formula 1 bosses with a view to joining the race for an African Grand Prix against the likes of Morocco and Rwanda.

“However, despite our best efforts to contact the minister to present our case and suggest a proper bidding process, we have thus far run into a brick wall. We believe that there is much merit in our bid and that we indeed tick more boxes than most. All we ask is that our bid be considered and that the best bid wins.

“The South African Grand Prix is a treasure,” Malefane continues. “The future of Formula 1 is of national significance in South Africa and it now appears that through minister McKenzie, government has a hand in bringing the race back. As such, we therefor expect nothing less than a parliamentary process, not some back door deal, to decide the future of the race, who runs it, and where it happens. We look forward to entering into such a process.”

The Wakanda City South African Grand Prix bid is the centerpiece of the future smart city in the Eastern Cape. Styled on the likes of Dubai, Singapore and Monaco, Wakanda will be developed on an idyllic 20,000 hectare beachfront site near Sunday’s River. It will comprise Ferrari and Safari themed parks, Hollywood and Disney type movie studios and a marina lagoon resort in typical African style. And it will be home to Formula 1 and the Grand Prix, as much as it will be a hub of local South African motor racing.

Adjacent to another Eastern Cape success story in the Couga Port and Industrial Zone with all their amenities supporting infrastructure, including an international airport, a cruise liner terminal and super yacht basin, a Wakanda City racetrack ticks all the boxes, including Formula 1’s penchant for street circuits, as the ideal venue for a future South African Grand Prix.

The Eastern Cape is of course the spiritual home of the South African Grand Prix. The first races were in East London, where organizers delivered some incredible events from the first 1934 GP to the 1966 race, some would say to astounding effect, and against all odds.

“Wakanda City is a multi-billion dollar project. We have all the funds in place, not only to commence with development, but to also build the state of the art circuit and run a Formula 1 Grand Prix to the highest international standards. All we now need is the free and fair opportunity to bid to host the Grand Prix alongside any other bids, at parliamentary level,” MK Malefane concludes. “We are confident that our most compelling prospect will be a winning bid.”

Protocol requires an open bid on government projects

Prospective Wakanda City Grand Prix organizers are still waiting for feedback from government with regards a bidding process to ensure that the best suited prospect is presented to Formula 1 and the FIA for consideration to host a future South African Grand Prix.

“We have been left with little option but to go directly to Formula 1 and the FIA with our concerns,” Wakanda City CEO MK Malefane explains. “We believe that our Smart City Development with centerpiece Grand Prix Circuit ticks all the right Formula 1 boxes and that we deserve an opportunity to present our Formula 1 bid in an open and transparent manner. However, despite several representations to government and the ministry of sport, arts and culture so far, we have not yet had the courtesy of a response.

“At the same time, the South African minister of sport, arts and culture, Mr Gayton McKenzie has been posturing with rival apparent South African Grand Prix bids. South African law however requires any project requiring government involvement or financial support, to be open to a legitimate bidding process before awarding any party the rights to run any such project. Yet still we are out in the cold in spite of the brilliant prospect of the Wakanda City South African Grand Prix.

“Once again, all we ask is for the opportunity to present our case to government, which should then work through our and any other bids, before submitting the best of them to Formula 1 and the FIA as an official South African Formula 1 Grand Prix Bid. We believe that we are in a very strong position and that our bid offers South Africa, Formula 1 and the FIA a brilliant new opportunity to host a Grand Prix on a stunning new circuit as part of the most exciting urban development Africa has ever seen.”

A Grand Prix Circuit and the race are core to the new Wakanda SuperCity. Africa’s answer to Dubai, Singapore, Monte Carlo and Hollywood, Wakanda City is earmarked for Sunday’s River in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Nelson Mandela Bay Couga Port region. Wakanda City will be extensively developed on a prime 20,000 ha site including 40 km of coastal beach and will boast all the necessary state of the art infrastructure.

That will see the development of all the necessary services including an all-new international airport, fast train links, a cruise liner terminal and harbour, and a Disney type movie studio and theme park as part of an international beachfront hotel strip. Wakanda City is situated close among South Africa’s finest Big Seven game parks, where the first phase of the development has already commenced.