The Democratic Alliance has accused the ministry of communications of planning to spend millions of rand on new luxury vehicles, despite having two relatively new high-end vehicles already at its disposal.
DA spokeswoman on communications Phumzile Van Damme said on Monday that the department of communications intends to purchase two new vehicles for newly appointed minister Ayanda Dlodlo and her deputy, Thandi Mahambehlala, “despite the department’s risk of running out of money by the second quarter of the current financial year”.
Van Damme said in a statement that the acting director-general of communications, Basana Baloyi, told parliament on Mondya that it will probably run out of money by mid-2017.
“However, despite these financial pressures, the department intends to buy two new luxury cars for the ministers,” she said. “The purchase of two new vehicles will place severe financial pressure on the department’s ability to fill vacancies and deliver on its mandate.”
According to Van Damme, the department already has several high-end vehicles at its disposal. The minister has a government-bought 2014-model BMW X5 XDrive 3.0D and a 2014-model Jeep Grand Cherokee, while the deputy minister has a 2014-model Audi A8 3.0TDI Quattro and a 2014-model Audi Q7 4.2TDI V8, she said.
“The excuse that the Ministerial Handbook allows ministers to purchase new vehicles once mileage has been reached does not hold water,” Van Damme said in the statement. She challenged Dlodlo to “do the right thing” by insisting the vehicles not be acquired on her behalf by the department of communications.
A spokeswoman for the department couldn’t immediately be reached on her mobile phone for comment. — © 2017 NewsCentral Media
