Three ANC government departments in the Limpopo Province stand accused of ‘splurging’ tax-payer money by DA Provincial Leader Jacques Smalle.
He had written to the chairperson of the standing committee on public accounts, Snowy Kennedy, to investigate expenditure by three departments: Economic Development & Environment and Tourism, Safety, Security and Liaison, and Health.
Kennedy’s response turned up multi-million rand figures for luxury costs. Each department is responsible for splurging huge amounts on travel and catering:
Where has Limpopo tax-payer money gone?
Economic Development:
Travel: R34m
Catering: R1.8m
Safety and Security:
Travel: R8m
Catering: R1.4m
Health:
Travel: R32m
Catering: R5m
Read: Up to 14 Limpopo officials facing the sack after R7.4m fraud operation
According to documents obtained by The Citizen, most of the catering expense has been identified as expensive holidays, costly whisky, and fancy meals.
Smalle claimed this spending was ‘exorbitant and shameful’, and feels that the ANC in Limpopo must face an immediate probe for their fiscal dumping:
“It is clear these departments orchestrated fiscal dumping into travelling and catering expenses to avoid under-spending in this financial year.”
“It is scandalous that such huge amounts are wasted within our departments when it was supposed to have contributed towards addressing the woeful state of affairs in Limpopo province by creating job opportunities.”
Limpopo can’t afford to throw R70m away…
The Standing Committee chairman provided Smalle with details of their finances from April 2016 to March 2017. The DA member went on to accuse the regional government of ‘ignoring belt-tightening measures’ provided to save public money
The news will come as a sickener to Limpopo residents due to recent revelations that the province is one of the worst-hit places for poverty. Stats SA identified Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal as poor provinces with the majority of their populations living below the breadline.
Whilst fat cats line their stomachs, the people they serve are going hungry. Seems like R70m would make a lot of difference to a lot of families.
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