Article source: timeslive.co.za
According to a Sunday Times report this weekend, Northern Cape premier Sylvia Lucas used her official credit card to spend R53 159 on fast-food during her first 10 weeks in office.
Lucas was was inaugurated as premier of the Northern Cape on 30 May 2013 and to date has racked up over R50K on fast food on her official credit card.
It has been reported that her official credit card was used to buy food from fast-food outlets like Spur, Mike’s Kitchen, KFC, Wimpy and Ocean Basket.
She spent R11 956 on food in Kimberley, the official premier’s residence, in August 2013.
Lucas told the Sunday Times newspaper the shop was conveniently “close to her home”.
According to Lucas: “When we go out of Kimberley, we go to the SuperSpar and we buy water and Powerade and cool drinks. We need Powerade for the energy, you know,”.
When asked about using taxpayers’ money on fast food, Lucas reportedly said Grewan, her chief of staff, and the office PA Nondzame Matika had been in possession of the credit cards and signed off on the spending.
(According to latest reports Grewan has been “relocated” to another department since The Sunday Times broke the story).
Totally blown out of proportion
According to the Mail & Guardian online, Spokesperson for the premier’s office Monwabisi Nkompela said Lucas’s spending was “not excessive” and was “totally blown out of proportion”.
According to the Ministerial Handbook she is allowed to have expenses around food for when she convenes meetings or travels long distances.
Read the full response to the Mail & Guardian and see a PDF document of how ministers can and cannot spend taxpayers money click here.
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