South Africans are not letting ridiculous government spending go unnoticed and are starting to use social media to call them out.
Last week, a copy of a restaurant bill receipt with a total balance of R80 000 went viral on social media and left many social media users with an impression that it belonged to the first family.
The receipt‚ which can easily contend for the title of the most expensive eatery bill to surface online‚ shows that the table of ten spent R73‚053.50 – mostly on booze – and finished it off with a tip of R7‚305.50 on May 12.
The restaurant bill shows that in addition to food – including four Langoustines at an eye-watering R3‚200‚ lamb shank for R255 and salmon confit for R295. The customer spent R65‚198.50 at the bar.
The list of expensive drinks included 30 doubles of 26-year-old Glenfiddich whisky for R29‚700‚ six bottles of Veuve Clicquot NV Champagne for R8‚700. Two bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Brut for R17‚000 and two bottles of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose‚ a snip at R4‚600.
Bottles of water for the table cost R495.
The presidency contradicted the assertion on Tuesday as the claim‚ along with a copy of the restaurant bill‚ went viral on social media.
President Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said: “I have seen the receipt. It does not belong to the president as he was not in the country on the day. He was in Uganda at the inauguration of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in Kampala. We don’t know who did this.”
Signature restaurant‚ which is owned by mogul and professional civil engineer Desmond Mabuza‚ hosts well-heeled customers including politicians‚ businessmen and celebrities.
The general manager at the restaurant who refused to be named confirmed the legitimacy of the receipt‚ but denied reports that the president and his wives were ever at the restaurant.
Recently the first family received massive criticism of spending a walloping R9 million on the president’s wives’ cars over a period of 5 years in an unemployment hit South African economy.
It wasn’t that long ago when I watched the finance minister Pravin Gordhan announce austerity measures in parliament.
“This year’s Budget, Honourable Speaker, is focused on fiscal consolidation. We cannot spend money we do not have. We cannot borrow beyond our ability to repay,” Minster Gordhan said passionately while delivering his 2016 budget speech on 24 February.
After listing a whole number of cost reduction measures, including guidelines limiting the value of vehicles, for office bearers, he said: “Until we can ignite growth and generate more revenue, we have to be tough on ourselves.”
Concluding his speech, he even thanked the president for his “support.” A statement tinged with irony now.
He did not, however, specify the limit he wanted to impose for car purchases.
The controversy around President Zuma’s inconsistencies is not only limited to spousal budgets and their luxury cars.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula vowed to go ahead with a purchase of a presidential jet believed to cost about $2.5m.
“There is no way we can avoid this because in the first instance, we must ensure the principal is safe,” she said emphatically in parliament on Wednesday.
Everyone is still wondering who had probably spent such a figure? The presidency has called out that it wasn’t the President but they haven’t denied that it was someone within government.
Luckily South Africans are hard at work uncovering the truth and hopefully we’ll find out sooner than later.
Who do you think is capable to spend such an amount at a restaurant?
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This sort of spending, if by MPs, would be disgraceful, but no evidence has been produced in this article that it was ANC MPs who spent this amount. It’s like showing the picture of a dead body and then saying “x is a bad person… he probably did this”.