KwaZulu-Natal economic development and tourism minister Mike Mabuyakhulu received an average of R100 000 a month for using his private car for government work, the Mercury newspaper reported on Friday.
The paper reported that Mabuyakhulu received a bill of R383 618,07 in four months from May to August this year for using his Range Rover.
The bill has raised a huge outcry from opposition parties which called for the provincial government to review accommodation arrangements for ministers not living in Pietermaritzburg.
Mabuyakhulu lives in Empangeni and it costs government a fortune to subsidise his daily trips, the paper reported.
Mabuyakhulu’s spokesperson Mathatheni Mabaso said the issue was blown out of proportion.
‘The minister has done nothing wrong. He claims for genuine kilometres that he travels. The law allows him to use his private car for work if he wishes to do so.â€
He said he did not understand why opposition parties complained that Mabuyakhulu used his own car for work purposes, saying that opposition parties also complained when ministers used state money to buy cars.
”Here we have a minister who used his own money to buy a car. He also uses his own petrol and he forks out his own cash to maintain the car. The state reimburses him for the money he uses on his car.”
He said Mabuyakhulu had bought a big car because of KwaZulu-Natal’s topography which had many rural areas that the minister had to visit. — Sapa