Paul Kirk
In the week that KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali created a new department to regulate expenditure on the royal family, the province’s auditor general released extraordinary new details about the Zulu king’s high-flying lifestyle.
In a report tabled in the provincial legislature, Auditor General Barry Wheeler records how the taxpayer footed the bill for a R35E535 holiday for the king and his wife. The report notes that although the holiday at the Singita Boulder Lodge was a private expense, the payment was incorrectly made by the provincial government.
Wheeler records that gifts worth R11E156 were given to King Zwelithini by Mtshali. The report notes: “As insufficient records were kept the details could not be verified.”
The report says many payments to the king for expenses were not made in terms of the policy document the KwaZulu-Natal government is meant to adhere to, and that “the advances register was being used to effect payments and insufficient information existed with regard to these payments”.
But of all the expenses run up by the king, those that cost the taxpayer most are the unscheduled flights booked by the royal household. The report lists seven flights undertaken by the king in the province’s Lear jet and Bell helicopter.
On July 16, the king had the Lear jet fly him to Lanseria to attend his daughter’s university graduation. The jet had to wait four days for him to return to Ulundi on July 20. A week later, on July 27, he had the jet fly him to Durban and back for his 50th birthday. On July 31 the jet flew him from Ulundi to Durban again – once again to celebrate his 50th birthday.
On July 29, the jet left Pietermaritzburg for Durban to pick him up so he could return home from his birthday party. The report ends that: “Owing to incomplete return forms the purpose of at least 18 flights could not be established.”
In December last year the Mail & Guardian revealed the royal households were fumigated at a cost of over R92 000, while the king spent R16E000 to repair his jacuzzi and R12E000 fixing lawnmowers.
This week Mthsali said the creation of a new department would make it easier to control spending on the royal household. He also revealed that KwaZulu-Natal Director General Otty Nxumalo would be the accounting officer for the department. Nxumalo gained notoriety in the province when he was given R100- million in reconstruction and development programme funds to administer. The money was supposed to be used to aid victims of political violence, but much of it disappeared. Nxumalo admitted to the public accounts portfolio committee that he had established no banking details for more than 100 projects that received funding. Police said this week that while the debacle was still being investigated, Nxumalo was not so far personally implicated in any wrongdoing.