Deputy minister helps herself to two luxury cars valued at R1.5 million

The Democratic Alliance says that a deputy minister has splashed out on two luxury vehicles despite continued calls to curb wasteful spending in government departments.

According to a reply to a DA parliamentary question, deputy minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms Ayanda Dlodlo, spent R1.5 million on two cars in the space of 18 days last year.

On 2 June 2016, an Audi A8 3.0 TDI Quatrro Tip-tronic was purchased for R750,000 and on 20 June 2016, an Audi A7 Sportback 3.0 TDI Tip-tronic was purchased for R735,700, the DA said.

Read: ANC mayor wants new R1 million luxury SUV after crashing 6-month old Merc – DA

“It is wasteful expenditure like this that has created the lost generation, the millions of young people that have given up on ever finding work because the ANC would rather spend money on fancy cars than on quality basic education and skills development for our young people,” said the DA.

Upon his appointment to the position of mayor of Tshwane last year, the DA’s Solly Msimanga announced an immediate stop to all purchases or leases of luxury cars.

No new luxury car would be bought or leased for councillors. When the luxury vehicles the City currently owned needed to be replaced, sensible, low cost-vehicles would be procured. The Hyundai i20 or Toyota Corolla could serve the same purpose, Msimanga said.

This guideline has since been adopted in Joburg, under mayor Herman Mashaba, and is already in place in the Western Cape.

The 2017 price for the Audi A8 3.0 TDI is R1,297,500, while the A7 Sportback 3.0 TDI is priced at R1,043,800.

A report published by the auditor-general, Kimi Makwetu, in November last year, found that irregular expenditure at national and provincial government departments had surged nearly 40% since 2013-14, to more than R46 billion in 2015-16.

Read: Why public officials should drive luxury cars: ANC Youth League