SHIRLEY DE VILLIERS: Inside the City of Joburg’s R2.6m party
A R2.6m party the mayor knows nothing about, managed by an IT company in the City of Joburg’s transport department. What could possibly go wrong?
There’s a lot you could do with R2.6m. You could fix somewhere between 500 and 1,100 potholes, on the transport ministry’s numbers. You could provide minimum-wage employment to 50-odd general workers for a year. You could feed about 60 households for 12 months — or the Joburg council for four or five sittings, given figures quoted by News24. Or you could say: “To hell with it, let’s blow it all on one big party.”
Which is precisely what the City of Joburg seems to have done — or tried to do. News24 reports that it has had sight of documents showing the city planned a multimillion-rand spending spree to honour the 110-odd employees who’ve worked for the administration for more than 40 years. Think strolling down a R1,800 red carpet, entering a R76,000 venue and being hit by the overpowering stench of R40,000 worth of flowers wilting in the Joburg heat. Then there are the 461 of 500 attendees who will be gifted either a R3,000 watch or a R3,000 puffer jacket. Sorry for the 39...
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