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FS Treasury defends spend on Gupta newspaper─── CATHY DLODLO 16:16 Fri, 09 Sep 2016
Bloemfontein - Free State Treasury has defended their media spend of millions on the Gupta owned The New Age newspaper, saying they are carrying the cost for the entire provincial government.
The Head of provincial treasury, Godfrey Mahlatsi, says the amount spent on The New Age, is the total amount of money spent by the provincial government. The DA in the province was questioning why provincial treasury was spending more than R2.2 million in the first quarter of this financial year on The New Age, when only just over R12 000 was spent on 14 other publications. DA MPL, David van Vuuren, said his party has not sent questions to other departments to break down their media spending.
Mahlatsi says the amount listed, in his written answer to a question in the legislature, included all other departments.
" We are spending for treasury specifically, but with the newspapers it’s a transversal contract. That is other departments are not paying. We are paying because we centralised that contract. Now it would appear as a big amount of money, but other departments are not spending on it," he says.
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