Please find anttached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Leah Potgieter MP.
Nearly four months after Minister Gayton McKenzie's World Cup-related trip began, the Minister and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture still cannot produce a final close-out report accounting for the nearly R31 million spent on its World Cup programme.
In a letter dated 17 September to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture, Minister McKenzie expressed "regret" that the Department is still unable to provide the report, which remains incomplete.
Regret does not account for R31 million in public money.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
For months, the Minister and Department have provided information in bits and pieces as questions have mounted over who travelled, what was spent, who paid, and what South Africa actually received in return.
The World Cup expenditure has already come before the Portfolio Committee twice, yet Parliament still does not have the final reconciled account. At the Committee's meeting on 25 August, when the Department was expected to present its final World Cup report, it emerged that what had been presented was still not the promised close-out report.
The continued absence of this report is particularly serious because the R31 million World Cup expenditure already forms part of the DA's complaint to the Public Protector.
On 23 July, the DA asked the Public Protector to investigate allegations including maladministration, abuse of power, improper benefit and possible conflicts between the Minister's official responsibilities and party-political interests. The complaint specifically included the World Cup expenditure and questions surrounding who benefited from the trip.
On 3 September, we submitted further evidence to supplement that complaint after additional information emerged about the composition of the Minister's delegation, including the number of officials drawn from his political office, together with wider concerns about appointments of individuals connected to the Patriotic Alliance within entities falling under the Department.
Yet one of the most important documents needed to establish the full picture, the Department's own final close-out report, still does not exist.
That does not weaken the need for the Public Protector investigation. It reinforces it.
Almost four months after this trip began, we are still being told to wait.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
There is also a much bigger question of financial oversight. Minister McKenzie is responsible for a Department with a budget of more than R6 billion. If his Department cannot close the books and properly account for a single R31 million World Cup programme months later, how is the Minister exercising proper oversight over the billions of rands entrusted to his Department?
The DA will continue providing relevant information to the Public Protector as it becomes available.
Minister McKenzie must provide the close-out report, including the full expenditure, the complete list of travellers and their roles, who paid for each person, all sponsorships received, and what measurable benefit South Africa received from the expenditure.
Parliament should not have to keep asking for the same information.
