Durban | Thursday
KWAZULU-Natal MPL and senior Inkatha Freedom Party member Blessed Gwala ran up a cellphone bill of R65 000 which will be footed by tax payers in the province, the Daily News reports.
Gwala addressed members of the provincial legislature during a session in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday following revelations over the weekend that he clocked R65 000 on the cellphone belonging to the legislature.
Gwala defended the high bill by saying that as far as he was concerned his expenditure was ”unlimited”.
He was reacting to an article in a Sunday paper on the spending of MPLs in the province.
During the debate of finance MEC Peter Miller in the legislature on Tuesday, Gwala fiercely defended his expenditure and castigated those who questioned it.
He said the main cause for concern was not the fact that the expenditure had been made public, but that it was creating a ”negative impression”.
”The impression is that the people concerned spend as they please without regard taken as to the requirement of reasonableness in the usage of funds.”
According to the article Gwala in November last year spent R11 500 on his cellphone bill. His lowest bill was R3 849 in July last year.
Gwala told the legislature that the exposure of his expenditure was ”IFP bashing”.
Other MPs were allegedly also spending huge amounts on cellphone and hotel bills.
Another IFP MPL and speaker of the legislature, Bonga Mdletshe, ran up a hotel and travel bill of R100 000 in less than a year. His cellphone bill for December last year during the legislature recess was R28 000.
Deputy speaker and African National Congress member Willies Mchunu’s cellphone bill allegedly was R35 000.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday called for a comprehensive investigation into the high cellphone bills.
”The DA believes that no member of the legislature and no staff member can escape the critical examination of whether their spending was authorised and cost effective.
”Mr Gwala is no exception and we do believe that a comprehensive investigation must take place,” said DA provincial leader Roger Burrows. – Sapa