The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) spent R314 990 on Fifa Soccer World Cup tickets at a time when government entities should be tightening their belts.
CSIR's spending was revealed in a reply to questions posed by the shadow deputy minister of science and technology Marian Shinn, in the National Assembly.
News of the spending comes just after communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda said Sentech paid R11 117 a ticket to take guests to the games - almost five times more than the average paid by other state entities, such as the SABC and SA Post Office (SAPO).
Around R5.5 million was spent on ticket purchases by Sentech, the SABC and SAPO. This also includes money spent by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).
Thousands on tickets
The CSIR spent R314 990.70 on 40 tickets for two matches, science and technology minister Naledi Pandor revealed in her response to the DA.
Twenty tickets were bought for the SA versus Uruguay game, which will be played tomorrow, and another 20 were purchased for the 25 June match between Chile and Spain.
At R7 874.77, this makes the tickets to the two Pretoria matches cheaper than Sentech's purchases.
Pandor said the CSIR Defence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) unit provided for the expense in its budget, as it viewed the tournament as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invite and interact with key DPSS stakeholders”.
The unit earns income from private and international sector contracts, she said. Tickets were allocated by key senior stakeholders of DPSS involved in setting the strategic direction of the unit.
The DST also spent R25 200 on 10 tickets for the quarterfinals, which will be played in Port Elizabeth on 2 July. Pandor said the tickets were purchased in line with the department's recognition and reward policy and were allocated to staff who successfully completed its accelerated leadership development programme.
More questions
Shinn says, although the spending is “chicken feed” compared with some of the other departments that have splurged on tickets, she wants to know whether the relevant permission was granted for the purchases.
The R25 000 the department spent on tickets for a staff incentive to excel in a leadership training scheme is still in contravention of finance minister Pravin Gordhan's directive warning to departments that World Cup ticket purchases would be regarded as irregular, says Shinn.
Once Parliament is back in session, she will ask Pandor whether permission was received from treasury to buy these tickets as “prizes” for achievement.
Science and technology spokesman Lunga Ngqengelele says the money spent on tickets for the reward programme was budgeted for, and would have been spent on something else had the soccer games not happened.
Indirect taxes
The CSIR's expenditure of R314 990 for tickets falls outside the oversight of Parliament, as the purchase was funded with income received from contract work, and not directly with taxpayers' money through its parliamentary grant, says Shinn.
“The lion's share of the CSIR's income (66%) comes from privately contracted work and only 32% of its income is directly from the taxpayer, via the DST's parliamentary grant,” she explains.
However, 46% of this 66% of the CSIR's income, or R661 million, is from contract work for the public sector, of which the Defence Force is a major client.
“While these tickets would, in the normal view, probably be seen as corporate entertaining - and subject to the rules of corporate governance and transparency - it would seem that the income with which these tickets were bought came indirectly from the taxpayer,” says Shinn.
She adds that this warrants further questioning of the CSIR, through either the parliamentary question process or when the entity presents its annual report to the portfolio committee later this year.
Related story:
Sentech forks out for soccer tickets
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