This morning News24 published a story titled “R4.4m on furniture for Gauteng premier”. It reports that taxpayers spent R1,200,000 on furniture, linen and curtains on Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s official residence. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Previously we had spent R3,250,000 in 2009 and 2010 for refurbishments at the same residence for Mokonyane and before that we spent R3,200,000 on furniture, a liquor bar and a cigar bar for former premier Mbhazima Shilowa when he resided there.
The original house was bought in 2004 for R11,500,000 and about R13,000,000 has been spent with taxpayers’ money since then on refurbishments and repairs. But that is just for one house…
Mansion upgrades
Last year it was reported that the Public Works Department was upgrading many official residences including those of the president, deputy president and Cabinet ministers. The total we were spending was R1,400,000,000 (1.4 BILLION rand) and included projects like:
1. R404,000,000 on 17 ministerial residences (R23,700,000 each)
2. R192,000,000 on the president’s official residence in Pretoria
3. R13,700,000 on the deputy president’s official residence
4. R105,000,000 on a new luxury VIP residence in Pretoria
5. R248,000,000 on Nkandla
Nkandla
The less said about this palace the better, R248,000,000 is sickening. But let’s not forget the road network which was built around Jacob Zuma’s residence which cost us R582,000,000.
Mangaung car show
Normally you can tell how well off a family is by looking at the father’s car. So how well off is our South African family by looking at its leaders?
In 2009 we heard from parliament how we bought Trevor Manuel a R1,200,000 BMW 7 Series (Incl R100,000 extras) and two Mercedes Benz ML350s for Naledi Pandor which cost R1,400,000 (Incl R150,000 extras). Other beneficiaries of “Cargate” included:
· Siphiwe Nyanda – 2 x BMW 750i (R2,400,000)
· Angie Motshekga – BMW 730D (R900,000) and Range Rover Sport TDV8 (R800,000)
· Ace Magashule – Mercedes Benz S600 (R1,300,000)
· Nathi Mthethwa – 2 x BMW X5s (R1,350,000)
· Tina Joemat-Petterson – Mercedes Benz S350 (R800,000)
· Pravin Gordon – Audi A6 3.0T (R600,000) and Lexus GS 300 SE (R550,000)
This is only a list of 10 cars which we had to pay for, but as we know all know by now, there are many more in government which we also buy cars for. So how much have we spent on cars? Well apparently this was the car count at the Mangaung conference where our leaders assembled recently:
· 211 BMW 5 and 7 Series
· 106 BMW X5’s
· 103 Mercedes Benz
· 28 Range Rover Sports
· 11 Maserati
· 9 Ferraris
· 6 Hummers
That is at least R325,000,000 worth of cars, assuming NO added extras. And if they were not driving their own cars, they were renting, like Collins Chabane and Dina Pule, for whom we spent R3,600 and R2,500 a day respectively in 2010 and 2011.
These people are literally driving off with our money!
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