Numerous national departments defy Gordhan memo on tickets
In defiance of a circular issued by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan warning government departments of the legal ramifications of wasteful, and potentially irregular, expenditure of state funds on World Cup tickets, parliamentary questions released today reveal that three more departments have gone ahead and collectively spent R 5.7 million on tickets for department employees and ‘stakeholders'.
I will be writing to Minister Gordhan to ascertain how he intends to ensure that his colleagues in the national Cabinet comply with his instruction, something that has clearly eluded him so far.
These departments are: the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Tourism and the Department of Science and Technology. Together with the R 5.3 million already spent by the departments of Communication and Public Service and Administration, this brings the total spent on World Cup tickets to R 10.9 million.
The purchase of World Cup tickets by government departments, in many cases to hand out on the basis of patronage, is not an acceptable way for government departments to be spending their budgets, particularly in light of the fact that thousands of South Africans have either been turned away from purchasing tickets, or are unable to afford them.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has rightly labelled the use of state funds on World Cup tickets as wasteful and fruitless expenditure. In a letter I received last week, the Minister was explicit in his recommendation that municipalities, provincial departments and national departments refrain from spending public money on World Cup tickets. He pointed out that such spending contravenes provisions in the Public Finance Management Act and the Code of Conduct for Public Servants.