A recent event that has sparked widespread curiosity in the country is Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie’s demand for answers from his own department regarding a R800 000 splurge on his recent trip to the Paris Olympics. This unusual act from a government official was publicised through a tweet in which McKenzie shared a letter he addressed to the department’s acting director-general, Cynthia Khumalo.
McKenzie, known for his strong stance against excessive government spending, now finds himself in a contradictory position. His previous tweets called for reducing funding for “super fan” trips, particularly when athletes and artists could barely afford to attend key events. Yet, his own Olympic trip ended up costing more than the budget allocated for athletes, which was R191 000 per person, while McKenzie’s personal costs exceeded R800k.
The minister’s public demand for transparency has raised eyebrows, especially since he promised to reveal the findings to the public. In his letter to Khumalo, he even set a deadline for a breakdown of the expenses, showing urgency to the matter,“I shall need this information within the next few hours to be fully prepared for my next press conference”, the minister stated in the letter.
Twitter users reacted to Minister Gayton McKenzie’s tweet, with a range of opinions on the matter. User @GodPenuel praised McKenzie’s transparency, saying, “Thank you, Gayton. If you win with this transparency, we need to look into all officials’ traveling costs being made public with service providers posted. To ensure taxpayers can see what’s going on, and to ensure some politicians are not being hypocrites.”
Asanda Mokhuoa shared a similar view, commenting, “Love to see it! This exposé confirms our worst fears: despite the leadership change, corruption seems deeply ingrained within the government. It’s time for a thorough audit of all government suppliers, with a detailed breakdown and comparison of expenditures. Let’s root out these crooks and recover the stolen funds.”
On the other side of the conversation, some were less convinced that transparency alone would fix the issue. Plantain Papi tweeted, “500k on transport is crazy, transparency won’t take it away. Man even said he would give up his salary to show he understands our struggles only to go and spend 500k on transport. It was all for PR, the same way this letter is too.”
Meanwhile, the EFF plans to report McKenzie to parliament for allegedly lying about the purpose of his R800,000 trip to the Olympics. The EFF accuses McKenzie of claiming the trip was for official government business when it may not have been.
EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys said the spending was “a lot for one person, the expenditure was extensive and is puzzling as the figures and what they relate to seem to expose exorbitant and unethical use of taxpayers’ money.”
However McKenzie remains unbothered, stating that the EFF is “obsessed” with him. He dismisses their criticism, arguing that they are focusing on him instead of more important political issues.
Despite the formation of a new government, the GNU and repeated promises of change, the misuse of public funds continues to be a problem in our country.
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