DA anger at huge cost of Esidimeni hearings process

THE Gauteng provincial government has spent R15.7-million so far on the Esidimeni arbitration hearings and is expecting to pay a total of R47-million for all the costs of this alternative dispute resolution process.

DA MPL Jack Bloom said this was disclosed by Gauteng premier David Makhura in a written reply to his questions in the Gauteng legislature.

Bloom said that according to figures provided in the reply‚ the provincial Treasury allocated R13.6-million for Esidimeni-related expenses in this financial year ending on March 31‚ but R15.7-million was spent as at February 12 2016‚ leaving a deficit of R2.1-million.

More than half the amount was spent on the Emoyeni Conference Centre as the venue for the hearings‚ which cost R8.4-million.

“This is grossly excessive‚ bearing in mind that Emoyeni is owned by the provincial government which has an arrangement with a private company to rent it out,” Bloom said.

“I will be asking questions on how this can be justified and who has profited from this.”

Other major expenses include payment to community radio stations and newspapers for the announcement for families to register for the arbitration (R2 048 913), and the cost of video production and streaming services (R1 498 781).

Bloom said it remained to be seen if enough had been budgeted to cover the financial award former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke would announce today for relatives of those who had died.

“Financial compensation is necessary but not sufficient for the Esidimeni tragedy‚ which also requires the criminal prosecution of all those responsible for the deaths‚” he said. – TimesLIVE