DA requests Public Protector investigate R1m expenditure on Saldanha IDZ launch political rally
The DA will request that the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, investigate the spending of almost R1 million by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the launch of the Saldanha Bay Special Economic Zone (SEZ) last month.
The event was nothing but an ANC rally paid for using government funds. It was an abuse of public money and there must be accountability for it.
According to a reply to a DA parliamentary question, R969 855.86 was spent by the Department of Trade and Industry on:
- Marquee, stage and sound - R558 676.10
- Advertising - R151 279.76;
- Catering for 2400 people - R155 000; and
- Transportation - R104 900.00.
The stage and sound costs were almost all wasted expenditure, since the stage that was ordered was too big for the marquee, and could not be used at all.
Instead of being an occasion of genuine celebration, the opening of the SEZ was an embarrassment. What's more, key diplomats and investors were present, thereby jeopardising the project and the potential 13 000 jobs it could create.
ANC supporters were bussed in to the event and ANC T-shirts were distributed at the event in plain sight. The Department of Trade and Industry was in charge of organising the event, which was also attended by President Jacob Zuma; Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies; Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel; Western Cape Premier Helen Zille; Diplomats and investors; and inexplicably chaired by ANC Western Cape Chairperson Marius Fransman.
Despite Premier Zille's warning to President Zuma the day before that the event would be turned into a political rally, nothing was done to prevent this from happening. At the event, when the ANC crowd heckled Premier Zille, Minister Davies and President Zuma did nothing to stop the obvious abuse of a state event for political purposes.
By not taking action to prevent a state event from being turned into a political party rally, and in turn, the use public funding for this purpose, Minister Davies may have breached the Executive Members' Ethics Code, specifically sections:
- 2(3)(f): Executive members may not expose themselves to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their private interests; and
- 2(3)(d): use their position or information entrusted to them, to enrich themselves or to improperly benefit any other person.
The Public Protector must now investigate how Minister Davies exposed himself to a situation risking a conflict between his official responsibilities as a member of the executive and his private interests in the ANC; and whether he was operating under the instructions of the President or his political head in the Western Cape, Marius Fransman.
The DA will continue to guard against the abuse of state funding for ANC political purposes under a veil of government infrastructure project launches ahead of the upcoming elections.
We trust that the Public Protector will investigate this matter and provide clarity on how public funding was approved for spending at a party political event.
Statement issued by Geordin Hill-Lewis MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, November 25 2013
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
