Mbalula’s grand entrance at recent event on Robben Island raises eyebrows

THE ANC has opted to remain silent on reports that the party’s Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula arrived at a recent party event on Robben Island in a luxurious yacht.

The apparent extravagant entrance took place on Wednesday ahead of the ANC’s 113th anniversary celebrations in Khayelitsha, which were held on Saturday.

According to news reports, Mbalula’s yacht arrival stunned fellow ANC leaders and observers alike during the event that was meant to reflect on the painful history of the party’s members who had been incarcerated during the apartheid era.

Other ANC leaders used the Robben Island Museum ferry, Sikhululekile, while President Cyril Ramaphosa was choppered onto the island for security reasons.

The yacht in question reportedly belongs to tenderpreneur Fernando Acafrao, a businessman who has secured multiple multimillion-rand government contracts.

In 2015, it was reported that two companies, including Mobile Satellite Technologies, were supposed to deliver four mobile health units to the KwaZulu-Natal health department but only succeeded in providing two, costing the province R61 million by August 2016.

This is not the first instance of Mbalula facing backlash for his extravagant lifestyle.

Previously, he attracted criticism for campaigning in a R4m bulletproof G-Wagon in Amaoti, an area rife with shanties, as South Africans questioned the appropriateness of such displays in impoverished communities.

Despite multiple attempts to elicit a response from ANC representatives, including spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, no comments have been forthcoming regarding Mbalula’s latest escapade at Robben Island.

Cape Argus