Minister who said South Africans can survive on R753 a month wastes R1.2 million after no-show
Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini has admitted to wasting approximately R1.2 million after she failed to turn up for a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) event in March.
Dlamini caused a stir in the middle of the year when it was alleged that she stayed at the luxurious Oyster Box in Umhlanga at a cost of R11,000 per night. The DA said that Dlamini had booked herself into the hotel on more than one occasion.
The minister also stated that social grant beneficiaries should be able to live on R753 per month to buy “adequate food as well as additional non-food items”.
According to a report by City Press, an event planned for Sassa’s Project Mikondzo had to be scrapped after Dlamini was ‘redeployed’ by President Jacob Zuma’s office at the last minute.
Dlamini was made to incur the ire of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) this week after Sassa reported R1 billion in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Dlamini told the committee that while she had been deployed elsewhere by Zuma’s offices on that day of the Sassa event, she could not immediately recall where she was.
“I will have to ask my office to find out where exactly we were.”
According to City Press, Sassa incurred the following costs as a result of Dlamini’s actions.
- Marquees were procured at a cost of approximately R1 million.
- R95,000 of the R828,480 earmarked for water and catering had been spent.
- R65,000 of the almost R75,000 budgeted for security had been spent.
- Almost R90,000 had already been spent on media for the event.
Sassa’s financial head, Tsakeriwa Chauke, said the issue was still being investigated.
The DA meanwhile, said it would request that three controversial contracts authorised by former Sassa CEO, Virginia Petersen, be thoroughly investigated by the Hawks, following revelations relating to R1.1 billion in irregular expenditure by the grant body.
Read: “Oyster Box” minister’s travel costs back in the spotlight
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