It was reported in February last year that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Cyril Ramaphosa were present when BMW SA handed over five BMW i3 cars. Picture: Twitter
Durban - THE Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities’ Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane is expected to address the Parliament’s portfolio committee on Thursday, on the uproar that some of the cars BMW South Africa donated were gathering dust.
The cars were to help South Africa in its fight against gender-based violence. One of the unused cars was at the Mzamo Child Guidance and Training Initiative in KwaZulu-Natal.
This came to light in a media statement released by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday.
Department spokesperson Shalen Gajadhar said they had noted this statement.
“The statement correctly states that the correct platform for addressing these concerns raised against the department by political parties is the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. The minister is looking forward to clarifying the misunderstandings evidenced in the statement. The department will release a detailed statement to the media, once these matters are addressed at portfolio committee,” he said.
It was reported in February last year that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Cyril Ramaphosa were present when BMW SA handed over five BMW i3 cars.
Today, Pres Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the official handover of 5 BMW vehicles that will be used to fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide #GBVF #GermanyInSA pic.twitter.com/urKCOAD6Ff
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) February 6, 2020
Each of these vehicles costs about R754 200. The cars were presented to the South African Business Coalition on Health and Aids who would manage them on behalf of the Interim Steering Committee on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.
On Tuesday, the DA’s deputy spokesperson on Woman, Youth and People with Disabilities Nazley Sharif, said they had submitted questions to the minister on what they had found - a vehicle had been left to gather dust at the Mzamo Child Guidance and Training Initiative in KZN. The car was handed over to the organisation over in October last year despite it being officially handed over to the government in February 2020.
Yesterday during the official handover of 5 BMW vehicles that will be used to fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide #GBVF #GermanyInSA pic.twitter.com/3W6RKLYXqf
— Hlengiwe Mkhize (@ProfMkhize) February 7, 2020
Sharif said: “We found that the car license subsequently expired in November 2020. The vehicle given to Mzamo was found sitting in a garage and is collecting dust. It has only 348km on the clock and we were told the only time this car was driven was when they collected it and drove it back to Mzamo’s facilities.”
She said the party was concerned as to why the car licensing took a long time. “It looked as if there was no priority in ensuring the vehicle helped in curbing gender-based violence.”
“Accountability and transparency was not being done. The fact that Right to Care has taken ownership of these BMWs is concerning because Parliament does not have information and finding information is very difficult,” she said.
mphathi.nxumalo@inl.co.za
Daily News