Dear Johannesburg
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is disappointed to learn that the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) has spent R249 800,00 in five days on external people hired to administer the payment of the Covid-19 relief fund.
This was revealed by the Gauteng SACR MEC, Mbali Hlophe in a written reply to the DA’s questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
According to the MEC, the Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation adjudication committee members who administered the rolling out of the Covid-19 relief fund were compensated on an hourly basis.
The chairperson rate per hour is R581, working 8 hours per day which equates to R4648 per day and the deputy chairperson rate per hour is R493 which equates to R3944 per day. The rate per hour for an ordinary committee member is R459 which is R3672 per day.
The MEC states that the Gauteng Arts and Culture Committee which adjudicated the arts and culture applications for five days from 24 to 28 August 2020 consisted of a chairperson, deputy chairperson and six ordinary committee members who were paid R153 120,00 in total.
The Gauteng Sports and Recreation Committee which adjudicated the sports and recreation applications consisted of the following: a chairperson and four ordinary committee members who were paid a total of R96 680,00.
It is deeply disappointing that the department outsourced the service that could have been done internally by its own staff in order to save costs.
The department budgeted R28 million for the Covid-19 relief fund which was not enough to help all our artists and athletes, yet they hired external people to administer the payments.
Furthermore, the Gauteng Department of Economic Development did not hire any external people to administer the Covid-19 relief fund, the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller’s (GEP) internal staff administered the funds which the department of SACR could have replicated in order to minimize costs.
The DA will continue to monitor the expenditure of the Covid-19 funds by this department to ensure that our artists and athletes receive the financial assistance they deserve, and that the money is spent on fulfilling the core mandate of this department.
Regards
Lebo More MPL
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation
Source: MyJHB
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