Wasteful Expenditure: R1.5-million for self-congratulatory adverts

The total tally of the ANC government's wasteful expenditure continues to rise. A reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question has revealed that the Department of Transport spent R1.5-million on placing self-congratulatory advertorial inserts in a number of newspapers in May this year. The twenty four-page advertorial included an astounding twenty-seven pictures of the Minister of Transport, S'bu Ndebele. While it is important for the government to educate the public on its mission, full colour spreads that seem to serve little purpose other than reproducing the image of the minister can only qualify as wasteful expenditure.

The response from the Department follows the DA's use of parliamentary questions to ascertain the full costs of the advertorial.  When the inserts first appeared in a number of national newspapers, a DA enquiry with the publications concerned revealed that the costs of placing them, based on the number of copies published on the days on which the inserts appeared, worked out to R1.2-million. It seems we were rather modest in our own calculations as the reply from the department of transport reveals that in fact an additional R300 000 was spent.

The reply reveals the exact costs of placing the advertorial to be as follows:

• Editorial - R225 000
• Photography - R85 000
• Conceptualisation - R150 000
• Printing - R980 000
• Distribution - R60 000

The DA will be adding this amount to the Wasteful Expenditure Monitor - created to monitor the ANC government's excessive spending - which currently stands at R1.1-billion. To date, a total of R16.5-million has been spent by the ANC administration on wasteful marketing, e-marketing and self-congratulatory advertising, including approximately R15-million spent by Durban City Council on two websites.

The DA in the Western Cape is in the process of drafting a new Ministerial Handbook for the Western Cape Provincial Government in order to curb lavish spending on items such as cars, travel, parties and adverts. In the last year alone, the Western Cape government has managed to save R10.8-million by cutting the advertising budget from R18 million to R7.2 million. The DA challenges national government to do the same.

Statement issued by Mannie de Freitas, MP, Democratic Alliance deputy shadow minister of transport, June 30 2010

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