A former government adviser and confidant to former minister of human settlements, water, and sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu has claimed more than R1.76 million for travel and accommodation expenses.
This was revealed in reply to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Mphumzi Mdekazi was already earning a whopping salary of R142,920 as an advisory committee member, for just 15 days of work a month.
Mdekazi has frequently been accused of wielding inappropriate influence within both big-budget departments and is widely rumoured to be the driving force behind Sisulu’s presidential ambitions.
It is further alleged that Mdekazi personally handpicked members of Sisulu’s National Rapid Response Task Team on the basis of their ability to garner political support for Sisulu ahead of the ANC’s 2022 elective conference.
“By invoking section 76(1) of the Water Services Act, Sisulu was able to bypass Ministerial Handbook staff limits and stack her political deck via the establishment of various advisory committees and task teams over which she then had direct control,” said DA’s shadow minister of human settlements, Emma Louise Powell.
Powell also revealed that so-called “specialists” serving alongside Mdekazi included a Kenyan documentary filmmaker, who served as the department’s cameraman, a radio presenter, and a former Kaizer Chiefs PR officer.
“The fact that Mdekazi was permitted to rack up a taxpayer-funded travel and accommodation bill of R1,763,878 is simply inconceivable in the face of the devastating financial state of our nation,” said Powell.
ALSO READ: DA calls Sisulu’s decision to appoint Motau ‘a gross conflict of interest’
The DA said Mdekazi’s expense claim made a mockery of 13 million South Africans who continue to live in squalor, with scores still without access to basic water and sanitation services.
The party said would submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application for “every last invoice” submitted to the department by all members of the advisory committee, and further information would be provided to the public once received.
In the interim, the DA has called on the current Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu to immediately disband the advisory committee and initiate a formal investigation into Mdekazi’s travel bill.
-The Citizen
In other news – #RIPMom: Condolences pour in to Uzalo actress Gugu Gumede
Uzalo actress Gugu Gumede has reportedly taken a break from the telenovela after her mother, National Freedom Party (NFP) leader Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi, died on Monday.
KaMagwaza-Msibi died of cardiac arrest linked to Covid-19 after being admitted to Umhlanga Hospital in Durban two weeks ago. She had suffered a major stroke in 2014, that placed her in a coma for a few days and affected her speech. Learn More
