{"id":145299,"date":"2016-12-01T11:15:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T09:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=145299"},"modified":"2016-12-01T11:15:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T09:15:44","slug":"iec-explains-why-it-splurged-r1-5-million-on-a-five-star-hotel-despite-cash-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/145299\/iec-explains-why-it-splurged-r1-5-million-on-a-five-star-hotel-despite-cash-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"IEC explains why it splurged R1.5 million on a five-star hotel despite cash woes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Star has reported that the The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) forked out R1.5 million on a four-day workshop at a five-star hotel and spa, despite its financial woes.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cstrategic workshop\u201d was held at Africa Pride Mount Grace Country House and Spa, a five-star hotel nestled in the Magaliesberg where rates range from R1,862 &#8211; R4,100 per night.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/gauteng\/cash-strapped-iec-in-r15m-hotel-splurge-2094850\" target=\"_blank\">The Star<\/a>, approximately 120 IEC\u00a0 delegates attended the workshop, with many having to catch flights to Joburg before moving on to the hotel in the North West.<\/p>\n<p>It reported that the commission spent R1.2 million on room bookings alone, citing a source within the IEC.<\/p>\n<p>IEC spokesperson Marco Granelli told the paper that the commission selected the five-star hotel because they had negotiated a package deal, adding that the rate was in line with Treasury regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Granelli said that IEC chief executive Mosotho Moepya had wanted to postpone the workshop due to &#8216;cash-flow problems&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, a postponement was not possible without considering cost implications including a 100% cancellation fee. The CEO therefore decided that the workshop should proceed as scheduled to avoid fruitless expenditure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The IEC reportedly overspent by R250 million in the municipal elections in August.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/128209\/defence-force-chief-blows-r500000-on-a-trip-to-cuba-with-his-wife\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defence Force chief blows R500,000 on a trip to Cuba with his wife<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Star has reported that the The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) forked out R1.5 million on a four-day workshop at a five-star hotel and spa despite its financial woes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":145303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121,1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-145299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145317,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145299\/revisions\/145317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}