PREMIER BLOWS R50 000 IN FAST-FOOD SPREE 15 Sep 2013- Sunday Times - PEARLIE JOUBERT How would we have eaten if we didn’t use taxpayers’ money? NORTHERN Cape premier Sylvia Lucas — who has dubbed herself Queen of the Kalahari — spent an astonishing R53 159 on food during her first 10 weeks in office, using her official credit card to indulge her passion for treats from Kentucky Fried Chicken, Nando’s, Spur and Steers. This was in spite of her substantial R1.9-million annual salary as premier of South Africa’s third-poorest province, in which, according to University of South Africa research, an estimated 55% of people live below the poverty line. Lucas, who was inaugurated as premier on May 30 and professes to have a close relationship with President Jacob Zuma, spent a whopping R26 565 on food in one month — 86% of all her card purchases for the month. She also spent R11 956.28 in August on food in Kimberley — where she lives in the official premier’s residence — despite Treasury guidelines stipulating that official credit cards are for “when the executive authorities are away on official duties outside the province”. Her purchases included: R1 000 at Nando’s on July 16; R819 at Karoo Kombuis in Williston, R459 at Hantam Vleis in Calvinia and R446 at Calvinia Spar on July 17; R968.30 at Wildhawk Spur in Irene, Pretoria, on July 19 while attending the ANC’s national executive committee lekgotla in Johannesburg (where members were provided with hotel accommodation and meals). She returned the next day to spend R1 055.20; R3 199.20 at Spur and Mike’s Kitchen between July 29 and 31 while attending orientation at Wits Management School in Johannesburg; and R1 528.46 at Wimpy, Steers, Spar and Ocean Basket in Kimberley on August 2. She also spent more than R2 000 at her local Superspar in Monument Heights, Kimberley, during this period. The Spar, Lucas said this week, was conveniently “close to her home”. She said: “When we go out of Kimberley, we go to the Superspar and we buy water and Powerade and cool drinks and so on . . . We have terribly long distances that we have to travel, so we buy water and cool drinks. We need Powerade for the energy, you know . . . How would we have eaten if we didn’t use taxpayers’ money?” Nondzame Matika, the PA in the premier’s office, said Lucas and other MECs received refreshments from the office. “We have a storeroom full of water and cool drinks for when officials go on trips so they don’t need to buy water and cool drinks.” Asked about using taxpayers’ money on fast food, Lucas referred questions to Ramona Grewan, her chief of staff, whom she blamed for the expenses. She claimed to have no knowledge of the spending. “Ask the PA and the chief of staff . . . ask [them] that question about the credit-card spending. Grewan and Matika are the ones who sign off on all spending. Ask her and Matika in my office. Those are the people with the credit cards. It is impossible for me to have spent that money in Kimberley when I was mostly out of Kimberley.” But Grewan insisted she never had access to the cards. “I don’t get a credit card. There are two credit cards, the premier’s and Matika’s. The credit cards are for emergencies — meals and accommodation we pay for through the office . . . The premier needs no permission and I give no authorisation on her credit card spending,” said Grewan. Within hours of the Sunday Times’s enquiries, Grewan was informed she had been “redeployed” from the premier’s office, where she had worked since 2005. Lucas accused Grewan and the Sunday Times of running “a campaign” against her. “You are part of the campaign against me. That is why I have asked that Grewan must be transferred to another department because we can’t work together . . . We know that the person behind [these questions] is Grewan . . . These questions [about my credit-card spending] have nothing to do withmy work as the premier . . . You must just know that you will be reported to the necessary authorities,” she warned. According to a July 2012 memorandum from the provincial ministry of finance, economic development and tourism, Lucas was issued with two official credit cards — one for herself with a R70 000 limit and one with a R10 000 limit for Matika, whom she had nominated. Matika said Lucas had used the second card during June “because the premier’s card was still not issued”. Treasury spokesman Mojalefa Mphapang said the premier’s credit card “helps her in performing [her] duties when they [the premier and her MECs] do outreach programmes to attend to communities’ needs, to enhance service delivery, et cetera.” Lucas’s appointment was not without controversy because she was not the ANC provincial executive committee’s first choice. The committee proposed Grizelda Cjiekella, who had served as caretaker premier for 18 months after Hazel Jenkins stepped down following a stroke. The ANC’s provincial secretary, Zamani Saul, confirmed that Lucas was their second choice. “We did not go and seek reasons why number two was chosen. We’re happy about Lucas’s appointment. She was in the NP — she is a seasoned cadre of the ANC now,” he said. Lucas said Zuma “chose” her to be premier. “We have to accept the fact that we are high trees and we take lots of wind. There were three women elected to become the premier. The president chose me. The ANC chose me. There will always be people who will want somebody to be on her back to get a position, no matter how hard that person worked to make a difference . . . I’m proud to tell you that I am one of the hard-working comrades.”
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 17:02:01 +0000
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