TAX PAYERS PAID OVER R4 MILLION FOR EASTERN CAPE ANC-COUNCILLORS GATHERING

A recent gathering of ANC councillors in East London cost tax payers over R4 million.

State resources were used to fund the gathering of 1 050 ANC councillors held in East London on Monday, 29 April 2013. This is a scandalous misuse of taxpayers’ money. It’s an outrageous abuse of power and shows that the ANC has totally lost the plot when it comes to distinguishing between what is a party activity and a government activity.

At this event the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, told the gathering that the DA was a threat to the ANC in the Eastern Cape. If this whole gathering was paid for at the taxpayers’ expense, it illustrates exactly why an angry public is fed-up with the ANC.

The DA has challenged MEC Qoboshiyane to categorically deny that no expenses were incurred by municipalities or his department in hosting this event. State resources from cash-strapped municipalities cannot be gobbled up by the ANC when there is a crying need for service delivery in this province.

The DA will raise this issue in the June sitting of parliament by way of questions for oral reply. The MEC must explain to the Legislature how much this exercise cost municipalities and the department and why this cannot be categorised as illegal expenditure. We also have other avenues of redress that we will utilise.

The 180 DA-councillors in the Eastern Cape will fight to ensure that any expenses incurred for this event by their municipalities are repaid by the individuals concerned.

If the DA in the Western Cape had invited all of its councillors, with transport, accommodation and meal-costs included, to a party gathering, the ANC and Cosatu would have gone ballistic and broken through the sound barrier. There has been a deafening silence in our province on this scandal.

Although this was clearly an ANC event, the invitation was sent out on the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs letterhead. No DA-councillors were invited to this event.

According to a Daily Dispatch report ‘ANC councillors spend big in East London’, hotels were booked from Saturday through to Tuesday. If one adds up the costs of accommodation, meals, transport, and subsistence allowances, this event could have cost the tax payer between R4 million and R5 million.

Councillor Terry Stander of Ndlambe Municipality and Chairperson of the Association of Democratic Alliance Councillors (ADAC) in the Eastern Cape, will ensure that DA-councillors across the province will take action against those people who misused taxpayers’ funds. Written questions will be tabled in every council so the full extent of this extravagant event can be accounted for.