Mabuza's 28-man security detail costing millions
The government spent R8.39m of taxpayers' money to accommodate Deputy President David Mabuza's security personnel in hotels and lodges in the first six months of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The amount includes meals, transport and incidental costs for Mabuza's 28 police VIP protection officers, who rotate weekly, says a TimesLIVE report.
In a written parliamentary reply, Police Minister Bheki Cele said the accommodation expenses came from the budget of the Presidential Protection Service.
DA MP Manny de Freitas had asked Cele about amounts spent each month over the past three financial years to accommodate VIP protection officers for the Deputy President, and the amount spent since April 2020.
He wanted the reasons for accommodating these officers at taxpayers' expense, the accommodation used in each case, names of the people accommodated, other expenditure linked to the accommodation and the items of expenditure in each case.
Cele's response shows that between April 2017 and March 2018, the state spent R8.5m on similar accommodation for then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In the following financial year – April 2018 to March 2019 – R9.5m was spent.
This jumped to R15.8m for the 2019/20 financial year.
De Freitas described the amounts spent on Mabuza's security as ‘ridiculous’.
‘We are in difficult financial times and we need to be more circumspect,’ he said.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
