Baloyi's lavish spending on hired cars

THE Public Service and Administration Ministry spent R1,4 million on hiring luxury cars for its deputy ministers for a year because there were "no funds available" to buy an official vehicle

This was revealed yesterday in a Parliamentary reply from Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi.

Baloyi admitted it had taken his department a year to purchase an official vehicle for the deputy ministry.

Roy Padayachie was Deputy Public Service and Administration Minister between May 2009 and November 2010 before being promoted to Communications Minister when President Jacob Zuma reshuffled his cabinet last year.

He used R1,2 million worth of hired cars between March and November 2010 alone.

Baloyi said "the position of deputy minister was a new addition to the structure of the department and thus could not be budgeted for accordingly".

He also said "there were no funds available, therefore the department had to resort to hiring a vehicle".

When Ayanda Dlodlo took over from Padayachie last November, the ministry kept up the practice, spending R200,000 on hiring cars for her.

DA MP Ian Ollis slammed Baloyi, saying a car could have been bought for less than R1,4 million.

"It seems very reckless to do that with taxpayers money," Ollis said.

Baloyi himself has spent more than R357,000 on hiring cars since March 2010.

He said this was because he was carrying out official duties in other provinces, away from Pretoria and Cape Town where his official vehicles were currently parked.

Cabinet ministers and their deputies have spent more than R2,5 million on hired cars in the past year alone.