HEAD OF TRANSPORT RESPONDS TO USE OF HELICOPTER ALLEGATIONS

Head of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, Dr Kwazi Mbanjwa has expressed disappointment at comments made by the honourable member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), S’bu Ngidi regarding the honourable member, Dr Meshack Hadebe’s mode of transportation to a funeral at Izingolweni this past Sunday.

Mr S’bu Ndebele, as a Member of the Executive Council in KwaZulu-Natal in charge of road safety is responsible to ensure that we are all safe on the roads. In the unfortunate situation of crashes that cost people’s lives, especially in a situation such as this one where six people past away nearly two weeks ago, Minister Ndebele would normally visit the bereaved families and sometimes attend the funeral services to lend support in their time of need.

This past weekend, Minister Ndebele was unable to attend the said funeral, as he was busy with the African Renaissance Festival in Durban. As a result, he requested me as Head of Department to attend the funeral on his behalf. I had a prior arranged meeting set with the small business entrepreneurs that same afternoon at 13h30. Therefore, it was going to be physically impossible to drive to the funeral and back and still make it in time for the meeting in Pietermaritzburg.

Dr Hadebe, who was in Pietermaritzburg on the Sunday morning in question, was going to represent the transport portfolio committee at the funeral. It made sense for him to fly in the same helicopter, which was chartered for this purpose together with myself and other senior officials from my department. The helicopter was not hired for Dr Hadebe. He merely got a lift with us that in fact saved the province a sum of one thousand and five hundred rand that Dr Hadebe would have otherwise claimed for using his car for official purposes.

Therefore, to accuse Dr Hadebe of abusing taxpayers’ money by getting a lift with us in the helicopter is totally unfair and misleading.

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