KDM squanders R64 000 on a picnic!

Three days after President Zuma tightened the belt on spending public funds, KwaDukuza municipality splashed out R64 000 on a Valentine’s Day picnic!
This lavish use of public money followed a request by Johnny Sibiya, a local events organiser. Mr Sibiya initially planned to host this Valentine’s picnic in his individual capacity. However, through a strange turn of events, KwaDukuza municipality became a partner after Mr Sibiya asked for funding and invited Mayor Mthembu to be a guest speaker.
The financial implications imposed upon KwaDukuza municipality were as follows:
Marquees –     R 15 000
Portable toilets –     R 5 000
Guest artists –     R 10 000
Refreshments –     R 30 000
Stage (8x5x1m) – R 4 000
The ACDP believes that KwaDukuza municipality is not complying with SONA 2016. President Zuma was clear that restrictions on conferences, catering, entertainment and social functions must be instituted. KwaDukuza municipality management committee, which consists of the mayor and the municipal manager, among others, will do well to follow the President’s mandate of curbing its expenses in this regard. The ACDP also believes that the municipality must do away with entertainment events like the annual Beach Festival (which is nothing more than a boozing function), municipal sporting events and the Reed Dance, and catering at public events (KDM is not a public soup kitchen).
The reason given by KwaDukuza Municipality for sponsoring this event is preposterous. They said that it would “spread the feeling of love within the community, to promote social cohesion and to unite the community of KwaDukuza”.
The ACDP asks: how can social cohesion and unity of a community be achieved by sponsoring a Valentine’s Day picnic? Does KwaDukuza municipality take its ratepayers to be a bunch of illiterates who were born yesterday? We are fully aware of the politicking behind such events. With elections around the corner, the ruling party is obviously making every attempt to garner the support of its voters, even to the extent of using public funds to achieve the same.
CLLR NEL SEWRAJ
Ballito