28 November 2007

The IFP has officially declared the post of the Head of Department in the provincial Department of Agriculture “the plumpest public service job in KwaZulu Natal”. 

It emerged from the response of MEC for Agriculture Mtholephi Mthimkhulu to a parliamentary question posed by the IFP that on top of a lucrative package the job includes a brand new top of the range 4x4, a designated driver, a bodyguard and generously extended hotel accommodation. 

“The Official Opposition notes with concern that the department that has incurred the highest recorded figure for overspending in the fiscal history of KwaZulu Natal can afford this kind of comfort and generosity,” said IFP Chief Whip Henry Combrinck, who asked the parliamentary question. 

The IFP points out that the “royal treatment” afforded to successive Heads of Department at Agriculture is plump by any cross-departmental standards.

“The perks that include a brand new 4x4 vehicle or extended hotel accommodation clearly required ministerial concessions. The provision of the car in question is particularly unprecedented.  There is obviously no sense of departure from the ingrained habit of wasting the taxpayers’ money,” said Combrinck. 

The incumbent HOD Advocate M Mannya replaced the infamous Dr Jabulani Mjwara, whose sheltered reign of mismanagement resulted in departmental overspending to the tune of R125-million. The relevant forensic report initiated by the Official Opposition is currently being withheld from parliamentary scrutiny by the provincial government. 

Contact: Henry Combrinck, 082 576 7255