Durban spent R1.7 million on N

(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415/FilmMagic)

Durban spent R1.7 million on Nicki Minaj concert and tickets for councillors

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest poverty rate in the country – more than a quarter of all people in KZN live under the poverty line – yet Durban ANC councillors blew R1.7 million on a Nicki Minaj concert.

Durban spent R1.7 million on N

(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415/FilmMagic)

Shocker! The eThekwini municipality is the only city to spend taxpayer’s cash on Nicki Minaj’s Pinkprint tour of SA.

Durban bought tickets to Minaj’s concert for eThekwini councillors. Total spend came to R1.7 million rand, which includes renting the Moses Mabhida stadium and supplying tickets to the city’s 205 councillors for last Sunday’s concert. The DA refused to accept the free tickets.

The City of Cape Town as well as Johannesburg both confirmed that they didn’t spend a cent on Nicki Minaj’s tour, adding that private promoters footed the bill.

Last Friday in the run-up to Minaj’s Durban performance, city councillors got the following message: “Good afternoon Cllrs. kindly collect Nicki Minaj tickets from Speaker’s Office. Collection closes at 16h50 today, 18/03/2016.”

A follow-up message said that tickets were only available on a “first come, first served” basis.

“We strongly objected to the city spending R1.7-million on the concert, which was double the cost for the Chris Brown concert [in April 2015], and we even objected to that amount. These are wealthy artists who come here with US dollars, and should pay for their own stadium hire and advertising,” said the DA’s Heinz de Boer.

“As a caucus we took a conscious decision not to attend the concert in protest.”