Ntshaveni must publicly apologise for lying to South Africans live on TV
20 February 2024
Following hot on the heels of the statement by Hon. Sylvia Lucas that loadshedding is not the end of the world, Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni - during an interview on eNCA with JJ Tabane, stated emphatically that Ministerial houses do not have generators.
With a straight face, Ntshaveni unashamedly told South Africans that “There is no Ministers with generators…honestly there are no generators, it’s a DA whatever. We sit in loadshedding…there is no generators for Ministers. Department of Public Works have come time and again to explain, there are no Ministers with generators…so we are all in the same boat”.
Ntshaveni lied and she must publicly apologize for blatantly misleading the nation. In 2022, I submitted a parliamentary question to the then Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, on generators at ministerial houses and the costs associated therewith. De Lille’s response not only confirmed that the majority of ministerial houses were equipped with generators but that 13 had received brand new generators and the state (read taxpayers) had provided diesel for these generators to the tune of R 2.6 million in total at that stage.
For all intents and purposes, taxpayers are still paying for diesel that powers these generators and for Ntshaveni to deny their existence, is the pinnacle of arrogance that has come to define President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration. I will be submitting questions to Minister Zikalala to ascertain the subsequent cost to taxpayers of keeping the Ministers locked in their fantasy world where loadshedding has zero impact.