By Baldwin Ndaba and Anna Cox
Just about R96 000 - that's what Gauteng MEC for finance Paul Mashatile spent on one evening's dinner at an upmarket French restaurant in Sandton.
An unemployed mother can receive a monthly government grant of R190 for a child, which means the dinner bill could have paid the monthly grants of more than 500 children.
Mashatile used the cash to entertain his peers from the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) and Economic Development Unit at Auberge Michel restaurant after his annual budget speech on June 23, 2006.
Mashatile is the political head of both departments.
It appears that between February and mid-year he spent a total of about R250 000.
This emerged in his written reply this week to questions by the Democratic Alliance's Gauteng legislature member Brian Goodall on his use of his government credit card.
Mashatile was ordered by the Gauteng deputy speaker Sophie Williams-de Bruyn in the legislature last week to give the DA written responses after he failed to do so on numerous occasions.
When Mashatile complied, it emerged that he used his government credit card to entertain friends and the highest amount of all was R96 000.
On Thursday, sources said Mashatile usually block-books dining tables at the Auberge Michel, owned by Michel Morand, in Pretoria Street.
Mashatile and his friends, who seem always to drive expensive vehicles, use the main entrance in Pretoria Street, where they are easily spotted by pedestrians and other interested people.
The sources said other people who frequent the place include Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and South Africa's first lady, Zanele Mbeki, among high-ranking Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) connections in the country.
The cool-looking owner, Morand, laughed when approached about high-profile people including Mashatile, Shilowa and Zanele Mbeki being among his top customers.
He did not deny nor accept that Mashatile spent more than R96 000 for one evening's dinner at his place.
"I would not disclose the names of anybody who comes to my place," he said.
When repeatedly asked about Mashatile, he said: "I think you should contact his office and find out whether he visits my restaurant.
"I would also not disclose the amount of money they spent to eat and drink here," Morand told the Pretoria News.
DA spokesperson on finance Hermene Koorts said she was invited to the party but declined the invitation on the grounds that she thought it was "a fruitless expenditure".
"I was invited. I did not go.
"I did not think necessary to sit around a table after a budget speech," Koorts said.
She said the same amount of money could have been used to build two houses for people who had been on the government's housing waiting list for more than five years.
Shilowa, who is overseas on a business trip, responded through his spokesperson Simon Zwane, and did not deny visiting Auberge Michel but said all his visits were in his private capacity.
"The premier goes to a variety of restaurants in his private capacity and we do not think there is anything irregular about it.
"It does not exclude Auberge Michel restaurant," Zwane said.
Other people said Shilowa and some of his government officials also frequent The Butcher Shop & Grill at Mandela Square in Sandton.
That restaurant, according to some of the employees, is also frequented by some of South Africa's richest people, including Cyril Ramaphosa and Mzi Khumalo.
The controversial ANC Youth League leader Fikile Mbalula is reportedly among the regular customers at The Butcher Shop & Grill.