According to DA media liaison, Angela Barnes, Ekurhuleni’s Sports, Heritage, Arts and Culture (SHRAC) Department spent R12 000 per person on flights, accommodation, transfers and a subsistence allowance for eight councillors to represent the metro at the Indaba.
Barnes says that the DA declined the invitation to send a member as one of the metro’s representatives, citing the exorbitant cost to residents for its non-attendance.
“The DA takes the issue of metro business trips seriously, because such trips should benefit the residents, who foot the bill for all such expenses.
“When considering trips such as these, the party takes into consideration the purpose, subject matter, itinerary, cost and potential benefit to the metro as a whole,” says Barnes.
She says that after careful review by party leadership, the trip was deemed to be extremely costly with very little substance or benefit to the metro.
DA shadow MMC for SHRAC, Allan Sauls, says that the metro has a long history of neglecting its sport, heritage, recreation, arts and culture facilities and that many of the world class facilities were in a state of disrepair.
He says that considering the current state of many of the metro’s facilities, he couldn’t see the point of delegates going to the Indaba, and the DA had no choice but to reverse its earlier decision to send a representative.
“In essence, the DA carefully reviews the cost of council trips in relation to service delivery with special focus on how funding is being managed and applied,” says Barnes.
Sauls concurred, saying that until such time as ratepayers’ money was being properly spent ensuring that residents had access to repaired, well maintained and well managed facilities, he could not in good conscience condone the spending of the equivalent of the cost of a luxury family getaway.
