Gayton McKenzie says the cost of the trip to Paris is exorbitant. The EFF files a complaint

New Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzieadmitted that more than R450 000 for “land transportation” during his recent trip to Paris was “exorbitant”.

Furthermore, he added that R113,000 because his hotel in the French capital was “very stiff”.

Gayton McKenzie wrote to the acting director general of his department to detail the costs of his trip to Paris 2024 Olympics in July.

South Africans are not impressed

Many were not impressed by the total amount of over R800,000 – as reported by the South African website – that it cost South African taxpayers for McKenzie to attend the Olympics – particularly the EFF.

Julius Malema’s party has filed a complaint against McKenzie with Parliament’s ethics committee and also intends to file a complaint with the Public Protector.

In response to a written question from DA MP Liam Jacobs, McKenzie said: “Yes, I attended the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The total costs incurred by the department for my participation in the Games amount to R804 590.71“.

His response also included a painting (as below) breaking down the costs addressed to the Acting Director-General Cynthia Khumalo.

It shows the department spent R215,976.36 on its flights and R454,005.00 on its “land transport”.

Accommodation was R113,271.00, living and travel allowances were R20,745.72, while insurance was relatively low at R592.63.

Flights	R$215,976.36
Insurance	R592.63
Accommodation	113 R$ 271.00
Ground Transportation	R454,005.00
ST	R20,745.72
TOTAL	R804 590.71

Gayton McKenzie appears to be struggling to remember whether he actually competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics – and which events he attended.

The minister first went to the social platform X, denying having attended the Olympics apart from the opening ceremony along the Seine.

I left on the day the Olympics started, I went to government meetings with other ministers from other countries. I didn’t attend the Olympics, only the opening and came back to work. I could have stayed but I wanted to discover my new portfolio. Stop lying to people. https://t.co/PupxeEtU5Q

– Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) October 14, 2024

However, in a later article he changed his tune somewhat, recalling that he watched hockey, gymnastics and rugby sevens, and adding that he attended meetings, went to the athletes’ village(s) and had opened the village of Ekhaya.

I attended six meetings in Paris before the start of the Olympics, went to the athletes’ villa to greet our athletes, attended the opening ceremony and watched the hockey, gymnastics and football matches. Seven, I opened the village of Ekhaya and watched the rest of the Olympics. on TV. What ride? pic.twitter.com/UirmMS3Teq

– Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) October 15, 2024

In his letter to his acting chief executive, Cynthia Khumalo, McKenzie wrote: “My hotel costs also appear very high, given that I requested not to be accommodated in a five-star hotel, to save on costs. »

He said he stayed in a four star hotel Hotel Lumen in Paris.

Late Wednesday evening, McKenzie spoke to X again in an attempt to provide a more detailed breakdown of his costs — and his time in Paris.

It now appears that the vast majority of the “Land Transport” figures were due to “daily driver services”.

However, the EFF MP Sinawo Thambo was not impressed by McKenzie’s letter to Khumalo.

“McKenzie has now become more attached to the evidence that he is not paying attention to the work of his department, because in his incessant attempt to gain public favor and because of his obsession with public praise, he wrote a letter to the acting director general of the Department of Sports and Culture to clarify the expenses related to his trip to the Olympics,” Thambo said in a statement.

“By doing so, McKenzie officially bound himself to wasteful spending and admitted that he had indeed attended the Olympics.”

Thambo concluded that the EFF believes that McKenzie violated the ministerial manual, “particularly in relation to subsistence expenses, as expenses for what he called ‘land travel’ were unusually high and amounted to almost half a million rand.”

Is R800,000 a waste of taxpayers’ money for seven days in France?

Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing [email protected] or by WhatsApping 060 011 021 1

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