DA demands answers from KZN Premier over Sports, Arts and Culture Departments R4million booze-fuelled bash
14 April 2023
The DA demands answers from Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube after KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture hosted a booze-fuelled bash to the tune of R4 million. Officials, staff, their families and guests were allegedly presented with alcohol vouchers of up to R6 000 each.
The function, which was hosted at a well-known Morningside nightclub, was held under the guise of a so-called signature event - the Multi-Genre Music Festival and Festival of Beads. It was allegedly funded by the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
The DA is in possession of a video (view here) of the event, which clearly shows the Deputy Director General for KZN Sports, Arts, and Culture, Lindi Gwala - who was also the Acting Head of the Department at the time - having a good time with her staff while the department's banner is seen in the background.
To make matters worse, some staff who attended the event have claimed that they had to phone friends to come and help them consume up to R6 000 worth of alcohol each.
The DA is stunned by this finding and has submitted a written parliamentary question (view here) to fully establish the facts. It is believed that the event is linked to the untimely resignation of KZN Sports, Arts, and Culture MEC, Amanda Bani-Mapena, earlier this week.
This three-day event was supposed to empower previously disadvantaged groups and promote the development of SMMEs in creative and cultural heritage spaces. It was also supposed to support KZN’s struggling artist community by providing a platform to showcase the best in the province. Instead, it was turned into a party for the department itself, while artists got nothing.
This is the very department that is tasked with championing social cohesion and moral regeneration in our province. Yet, here it is, doing the exact opposite. The event has sparked public outrage given that monthly child support grants are a mere R500 per child and old age grants are just R2 080 per month.
The tactics adopted by the department are against the law and amount to fruitless and wasteful expenditure. It is actions such as this that have led to its failure to spend funds on deserving artists in the province.
The DA expects Premier Dube-Ncube to act immediately and launch a full investigation. She must also ensure that those responsible are held to account and insist on the resignation of the department’s Acting Deputy Director-General.
As the ANC scrambles to contain the fallout within this department, the Premier has appointed COGTA MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi, as Acting MEC. The DA will insist that she take this scandalous incident seriously. It must be fully investigated, and the accounting officer must explain to the people of KZN how taxpayers’ money could be spent on a free for all booze-up.
This incident serves as yet another reminder of this ANC-run government’s blatant disregard for taxpayers’ money. It also serves as yet another reminder to KZN’s people that the ANC is built on greed and that it is running our province into the ground. They will have the power to change this at the ballot box in 2024.
Issued by Bradley Singh, DA KZN Spokesperson on Sports, Arts and Culture, 14 April 2023
