The EFF has derided the ANC government over the bill spent on the funeral of late Free State MEC Tate Makgoe.
Makgoe died in a car accident on the N1 outside the farming town Winburg in the Free State in March.
According to Mapheule Liphoko EFF Chairperson in the Free State, the provincial government spent over R3-million for Makgoe’s funeral. He said this was recently revealed by the premier during a question-and-answer session at the provincial Legislature sitting.
“The funeral has cost taxpayers R3 432 676,00. The premier confirmed during the question-and-answer session at the Legislature sitting, that the three funeral events over several days at three venues costed taxpayers over R3 million.
“This is a great wastage of state resources and taxpayers’ money that could have effortlessly been used to provide services to the people of Free State who live in constant poverty and the people of Pars who have been without drinkable water for many years,” said Liphoko.
Liphoko contends that while the nation was mourning the ANC saw an opportunity to plunder state funds.
“The ANC government is known for spending exorbitant funds on funerals, every opportunity they get to loot taxpayers’ money they use it. This is the highest demonstration of a government that has no ethical or moral values, A wicked and inconsiderate government.
“It comes as no shock that they used C-Squared Consumer Connectedness as their service provider, a company that has a history of dodgy dealings with the Provincial government. This is the same company that has faced highly publicized court challenges and a HAWK’S investigation after alleged irregularities with the 2022 Macufe festival tender,” he said.
Liphoko raised concerns that the late MEC’s name has been tainted by this revelation, stating that it would now be associated with a looting scandal.
“Comrade Tate Makgoe was an MEC who served the basic Education sector in the province diligently and is hailed across the Country for the outstanding job he did for the education sector. Opportunists have exploited this funeral and have today brought his name into disrepute and tarnishing his legacy by throwing a heavy cloud of Corruption around his burial.
“Today anyone who remembers MEC Tate, his legacy and his funeral will also associate it with the looting of State funds rather than the good that he has done. All this because the ANC has no respect even for the Dead. Truly, what was once a movement, a Liberation movement, has slowly become nothing less than a cluster of Sociopaths. Comrade Tate deserved more than this.
“Such actions should be frowned upon and those who are involved must be held accountable,” said Liphoko.
He further announced that the EFF will write to the Free State government demanding clarity on the details of the funeral and funds spent on it, lay a complaint to the public protector, and report the matter to the Hawks.
“There is nothing left in the ANC, what some have viewed as a new dawn of the ANC, the new Leadership of ANC in the Province, these are the same people that have reduced a dignitary’s funeral into a State fund Buffet,” he said.
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