Durban - Venue hire for R240 700, R300 000 on food for mourners, R40 500 on beverages and R165 180 on sound equipment.
If an invoice is to be believed, that is how the eThekwini Municipality spent R761 000 on the funeral service at the Durban International Convention Centre of the late ANC benefactor and businessman Don Mkhwanazi in July.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi received the tax invoice for services rendered through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
However, Nkosi is convinced that the invoice is a "copy and paste" job of another event at the ICC.
His scepticism about the invoice is shared by the DA's Zwakele Mncwango, who said the document "did not add up".
Nkosi made the application after he and other opposition parties had repeatedly called for the expenses to be made public.
The invoice further reveals that the budget for the funeral came from the city's communications and public relations department.
The invoice contradicts the municipality's claim that it had only paid for the venue hire, buses and sound equipment.
The city had also claimed last month that the funds came from the mayor's office and the transport department.
In July, two days before the funeral, former mayor James Nxumalo and city manager S'bu Sithole signed off a Rule of Order 28 for "financial assistance" towards the burial.
The city said it had received a request for "financial assistance" but did not reveal who had asked for it.
The order was signed without an amount being cited, and the costs mentioned included venue hire (inclusive of "refreshments"), sound and transport.
It made no mention of food for mourners.
The invoice given to the IFP, however, cites no transport payments.
In the invoice, under the heading "marketing and sales", venues that were booked for the service are listed.
A day before the funeral, two halls accommodating 3 000 people were booked for R51 000.
On the day of the burial, the same halls were billed at R99 000. An amount of R73 378 was paid to accommodate 2 000 mourners in three other halls at the ICC. A VIP venue was booked at R5 140 to host 10 people. Glass bowls used but not returned cost the city R1 200 and cleaning services cost R11 666.
Opposition parties were dismissive of the invoice on Thursday.
Nkosi said: "There's no mention of transport in this R761 000. It's clear that the city manager thumb-sucked when I asked him for a breakdown last week. If you look carefully, there's sales and marketing (in the invoice). I wonder what was their role here."
He questioned why the invoice was marked for the attention of the city's communications department, when the rule of order referred to the mayor's parlour as the "responsible department" for the funding.
DA eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango said Sithole should tell the public "the truth".
"Based on the invoice, you can't tell me you're spending advertising and marketing on a funeral. Secondly, it doesn't make sense for the ICC to invoice the communications department. Does communications organise funerals now?" he said.
Nkosi and Mncwango said they would take the matter further.
Responding to questions on Thursday, the city's communications department asked to see the invoice. The department then denied that it had paid for the transport.
"The city did not pay for any buses," the department said in its response.
Asked why the ICC had invoiced the department, they responded: "Please be advised that a co-ordinating team was established to co-ordinate all requirements to implement the rule of order.
"The communications unit's role was to obtain a quotation from the Durban ICC. It is purely for that reason and nothing else."
The Mercury