Andrew Trench
TWO Eastern Cape MECs hitched to the East London airport to meet Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe when the national government’s ban on buying new cars left them without transport.
Regional transport MEC Mandisa Marasha told the legislature this week she was one of the two who had hiked to last Thursday’s reception for Mugabe. She was replying to questions by National Party MPL Billy Nel, who asked that details of new car purchases for the ministers be revealed.
Marasha said the national transport department had ordered that the government did not buy cars for the regional MECs until a new policy had been decided on.
This was why Premier Raymond Mhlaba’s bodyguards were driving Mercedes- Benzes, she said. Mhlaba came under fire on a radio talk show on Monday from township residents wanting to know why his bodyguards were driving luxury cars. Marasha said 12 government cars had been in accidents since May. — Ecna