Magashule's regime paying millions in taxpayer money to Gupta companies

9 September 2016

The DA in the Free State Provincial Legislature suspects that Premier Ace Magashule, through his proxies in the executive, are siphoning off millions of Rands in taxpayer money to pay the Gupta Cartel. 

This is another indication of how far state capture has progressed under the disastrous Zuma Inc presidency. 

On 6 September 2016, Provincial Treasury appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts and Finance to account for its first quarterly financial statements for the 2016/17 financial year. The Committee then requested a breakdown of the total for consumables for magazines, newspapers and journals. 

The HOD for Treasury, Mr Godfrey Mahlatsi, replied to our request and it is found that Provincial Treasury has to date (31 August 2016) paid just over R2,7 million to the Gupta’s ANC propaganda newspaper, The New Age, while the department spent a paltry R18 500 in total on 14 other publications. 

Last year the DA submitted written questions to all provincial departments requesting a detailed breakdown on advertising spent per publication. Many departments simply did not answer, while those that did, specified that they are unable to provide a detailed breakdown of this expenditure due to the structure of the payments on the accounting system. 

It now appears that Provincial Treasury can indeed obtain a detailed breakdown on advertising spent. We will therefore resubmit all written questions to the departments, who must reply within 10 working days from publication as per the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislature, failure of which the DA will consider alternative options to access this information. 

If Provincial Treasury siphoned off R2,7 million, we can only imagine how much the total will be for all provincial departments. A conservative estimate by extrapolation could amount anywhere between R30 to R50 million.

The ANC-led government, both provincially and nationally, have long adopted a policy of siphoning off taxpayer money away from service delivery. Not only to line the pockets of the Gupta Cartel and their proxies in government, but to stifle the critical, free and independent media in the country and especially in the rural provinces like here in the Free State. 

In this manner the ANC has been undermining our democracy by attempting to stifle the independent and repress the constitutional values of the freedom of the press and the free flow of information. 

Issued by David van Vuuren, DA Chief Whip in the Free State Provincial Legislature, 9 September 2016