Creecy 'paid consultant to write speech'
2011-04-20 12:33
Johannesburg - Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy paid an external
consultant R18 081 to write her 2008/9 financial year budget speech when she
was sport MEC, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday.
"It is outrageous that so much was spent on a speech that should have
been written by the department's own officials," DA Gauteng sport, art,
culture and recreation spokesperson Solly Nkhi said.
"How is it possible that senior officials in the department and the MEC
were incapable of producing a speech without this massive added cost to the
taxpayer?" he asked.
This suggested that Creecy did not know what was going on within her
department's finances.
The information about the speech was revealed in a reply to questions posed
in the Gauteng legislature.
"The DA hopes that MEC Creecy is not similarly uncertain of the
programme of action for her current portfolio... and that the finances of the
department are being used to provide education to all and not to buy speeches
or pay expensive consultants for other functions that should be performed by
the department," Nkhi said.
The ANC in the province could not be immediately reached for comment.
- SAPA
