DA lashes out at allocation of R356m to upgrade ministerial estate

altogether r356 million over three years has been allocated in the budget for the upgrading of the bryntirion ministerial estate in pretoria – including an allocation of r19m for the refurbishment of the president’s official pretoria residence.

just short of r90m has been earmarked for the upgrade of mahlamba ndlopfu – the presidential mansion – at the estate during 2011/12 alone.

the da’s athol trollip says it brings wasteful expenditure under the zuma administration to r4 billion.

according to the budget estimates of national expenditure for the public works department, the construction of offices – for sa police services security personnel “who provide security at bryntirion estate” – would begin in may.

construction would last for 20 months – at a cost of r103m. this year, r27m would be spent.
describing the spending under the headline “small infrastructure project spending”, the treasury directorgeneral lesetja kganyago reported that the expenditure fell into “the prestige category of accommodation provision”.

id parliamentary leader joe mcgluwa noted that the upgrade would include a hospital – described in the treasury document as “an executive military health facility that will service the president, cabinet and vips from outside countries”. this would cost r62m over the next three years, with r13m to be spent this year.

mcgluwa, who has led the id in parliament since the party’s leader, patricia de lille, was transferred to a ministership in the western cape government, said the upgrade project was taking place when south africa was “lagging behind in terms of the quality of service delivery, especially in the eastern cape where up to 130 children per teacher are allocated in inhuman conditions”.

trollip argued that the money could have been spent on the province’s education department, which needed more than r200m to continue its day to day operations.

trollip said the spending made a mockery of president jacob zuma’s intention to foster “a culture of greater prudence and less extravagance… and delivering more and better services with less resources”. – donwald pressly