New Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has admitted that the more than R450 000 for “ground transport” on his recent trip to Paris was “exorbitant”.
In addition, he added that R113 000 for his hotel in the French capital was “very steep”.
Gayton McKenzie was writing to his department’s Acting Director-General to detail the costs of his trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics in July.
South Africans left unimpressed
Many weren’t impressed by the total of over R800 000 – as reported by The South African website – that it cost South Africa’s taxpayers for McKenzie to attends the Olympics – in particular the EFF.
Julius Malema’s party has complained to parliament’s ethics committee about McKenzie and also intends to lay a complaint with the Public Protector.
In response to a written question from DA MP Liam Jacobs, McKenzie said: “Yes, I attended the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The total costs incurred by the department for my attendance at the Games amounted to R804 590.71“.
His response also included a table (as below) breaking down the costs addressed to the Acting Director-General Cynthia Khumalo.
It showed the department spent R215 976.36 on his flights and R454 005.00 on his “ground transport”.
Accommodation totalled R113 271.00, subsistence and travel allowance was R20 745.72, while insurance was a comparatively low R592.63.
| Flights | R215 976.36 |
| Insurance | R592.63 |
| Accommodation | R113 271.00 |
| Ground Transport | R454 005.00 |
| S&T | R20 745.72 |
| TOTAL | R804 590.71 |
Gayton McKenzie appears to be struggling to remember whether or not he was in fact at the 2024 Paris Olympics – and which events he attended.
The minister initially took to social platform X, denying that he attended the Olympics apart from the Opening Ceremony along the Seine River.
However, in a subsequent post, he changed his tune somewhat, remembering he watched hockey, gymnastics and rugby sevens, as well as adding that he attended meetings, went to the athletes villa(ge) and opened the Ekhaya village.
In his letter to his Acting Director-General Cynthia Khumalo, McKenzie wrote that: “My hotel costs also seem very steep, given that I asked not to be put in a five-star hotel, to save on costs.”
He said he stayed in the four-star Hotel Lumen in Paris.
Late on Wednesday evening, McKenzie once again took to X to attempt to provide a more detailed breakdown of his costs – and time in Paris.
It now appears that the vast majority of the ‘Ground Transport’ figures was due to ‘daily chauffer services’.
However, EFF MP Sinawo Thambo was left unimpressed by McKenzie’s letter to Khumalo.
“McKenzie has now further tied himself to proof that he is not paying attention to the work of his department, because he has in his relentless attempt to secure public favour and as a result of his obsession with public praise, written a letter to the acting director-general for the Department of Sports and Culture to clarify the expenditure related to his trip to the Olympic Games,” said Thambo in a statement.
“In doing this, McKenzie has tied himself officially to the wasteful expenditure and accepted that he did indeed attend the Olympics.”
Thambo concluded that the EFF believes McKenzie violated the Ministerial Handbook, “particularly as they relate to subsistence expenses, as the expenditure on what he referred to as ‘ground travel’ was abnormally high and amounted to almost half a million rand”.
Is R800 000 a waste of taxpayers’ money for seven days in France?
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