Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is planning to splash about R500 000 on branding and promotional material.
This is after the department last week got a new political head in the form of Super Zuma as its MEC.
According to a concerned whistle-blower in the department, the department had just spent a similar amount to procure its current branding material which has to now be discarded.
It has been alleged that the reason for the need for the new branding was because all the material they have, including banners that are used during government events, diaries and calendars, bears the face of the previous MEC, Bongi Sithole-Moloi.
Sithole-Moloi has since been moved to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to take over the position which was left by Sihle Zikalala who has since moved to the national assembly.
NEWS: The KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and rural development is set to discard high quality branding material worth half a million and spend a similar amount to produce another batch of the same quality and quantity. Allegedly, that's because the
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) February 15, 2023
The whistle-blower claimed that the department was still sitting on a pile of similar material from 2014 when the late Meshack Radebe was replaced by Cyril Xaba.
It was a similar case when Xaba was fired after a brief stint and was replaced by Sithole-Moloi whose face had to be included in promotional material of the department.
“Right now, all the promotional material and branding which has the face of the former MEC has to be discarded.
“The department has to procure new material, it has had the face of the new MEC and comes at a huge cost for the department.
“They have already given us deadlines for when they want this material to be procured and used when the new MEC goes out.
“This is worrying because it means every time there is a new MEC, a lot of money has to be spent doing this,” the whistle-blower told IOL.
The whistle-blower claimed that it was costly to procure the soon-to-be discarded material and suggestions to exclude the faces of politicians are not entertained.
“Mind you, some of this material like diaries and calendars is new, as it was procured in January as is always the case,” the source said.
The department's spokesperson, Vusi Zuma, first referred all questions regarding the matter to Lennox Mabaso, the spokesperson of the provincial government.