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PICTURE GALLERY: Opposition parties in FS demand answers on money spent on heritage sites─── KATLEHO MORAPELA 15:16 Mon, 11 Sep 2017
Opposition parties in the Free State Legislature say the state of heritage sites in the province is appalling and there is an urgent need to fast-track investigations into where the money is that was allocated to revamp these sites.
This after the EFF, DA, and Freedom Front Plus conducted an oversight visit to the Old Ramkraal Prison in Bloemfontein. The Freedom Front Plus’ Wouter Wessels says heritage sites in the province are completely disregarded. He says the Provincial MEC for Treasury, Elzabe Rockman, has assured them that a report will be released by the end of November, detailing where the alleged R120 million already spent on this site was applied. Wessels, however, says should this report not give a clear indication of where the money was spent, they will lay criminal charges and take the matter up with the Public Protector.
Wessels says the permit of the Old Ramkraal Prison, the proposed site for the development of the new Free State Provincial Legislature Complex, provided that there must be a fence and 24-hour security for the premises, however, this is not the case. He adds that the infrastructure of the building is dilapidated, vandalised and neglected.
Wessels says the Bloemfontein City Hall and the house of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Brandfort are an example of fruitless expenditure by the provincial government. He is of the opinion that these serve as examples of how taxpayers money is chunked for personal use. The DA’s Roy Jankielsohn and EFF’s Kgotso Morapela adds that money is not spent accordingly on projects to enrich communities. They add that as members of the opposition parties they will not rest until provincial leaders are held accountable.
“How can they start a project and later along the way proclaim that the government cannot proceed with the building of the Legislature Complex when more than R120 million has already been spent,” asked Morapela.
He says the provincial government needs to account for what they did with the R120 million and what their plan is moving forward. “This is an indication that they start projects but do not complete them because they are, in fact, channeling taxpayers’ money for their personal use.”
Jankielsohn adds that the MEC of Finance, during her briefing in the Legislature earlier, indicated that they are already looking at another site for the Legislature Complex.
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