Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Roy Jankielsohn MPL and Sesotho soundbite by James Letuka MPL
The former Free State MEC Tate Makgoe’s funeral has cost taxpayers a staggering R3 432 676,00 at three different funeral events. In a reply to a question to Premier Mxolisi Dukwana by the Democratic Alliance in the Legislature, it was revealed that these costs included food and beverages for R1 288 500,00, various performing artists for R355 000,00, flowers for R59 000,00, 20 couches for the family and dignitaries at two events costing a total of R28 380,00, a casket and burial plot for R130 900,00 and various other items that included lighting, stages, red carpets, projectors, and toilets among many others.
It comes as no surprise that the service provider was C-Squared Consumer Connectedness (Pty) Ltd. The same company that has faced highly publicised court challenges and a HAWKS investigation after alleged irregularities with the 2022 Macufe festival tender.
This money was spent on the funeral of one individual while the MEC for the Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) Thabo Meeko, revealed during his budget speech that 62% of Free State residents live in poverty.
While the DA and other parties were paying our respects to the former MEC in the Free State Legislature, the ANC were already planning to use his funeral to plunder state resources. It appears that all the promises of tightening the financial belts by the new Dukwana-led ANC in the Free State, was mere rhetoric.
It is clear that nothing is sacred to the ANC, who will use any opportunity to plunder taxpayers at the expense of the poor people of the Free State. If the ANC-run government in the Free State wanted to commemorate the legacy of the former MEC for Education, then this money could have been better used to assist his cash-strapped former Department.
The DA will draft a complaint for investigation by the Public Protector on what we regard as an abuse and plundering of state resources by the provincial government and their cronies under the pretext of memorial services.