216 810: That’s how many McDonald’s Big Mac burger meals you could buy with the money two departments spent on catering in a year.
|||Cape Town - 216 810: That’s how many McDonald’s Big Mac burger meals you could buy with the money two government departments spent on catering in a year.
If you’re more of a Burger King fan, you could get 214 636 Whopper meals, or if chicken is your thing, 42 841 KFC 21-piece buckets.
The money would also buy you 2.8 million samoosas at R3 a pop.
In response to parliamentary questions from the DA, the departments of Higher Education and Training, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said they spent R5.471m, and R3.093m respectively on catering in the 2012/13 financial year.
In April, the Department of Higher Education spent R50 000 on catering, while Agriculture spent R68 000.
Add in entertainment bills, and the two departments spent nearly R10m on catering and entertainment last year.
Higher Education spent R748 544 last year on entertainment expenses, while Agriculture blew R383 000.
In April, Agriculture spent R27 000 on entertainment, while Higher Education spent R9 412.
The government has in the past been heavily criticised for its expenditure on perceived luxuries such as catering and entertainment, but both departments have actually increased expenditure in these areas. Catering in 2011/12 cost the Department of Higher Education and Training R4.1m, and Agriculture nearly R1.8m.
Entertainment bills in 2011/12 totalled R425 000 for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, while Higher Education spent R106 275.
In October last year, the DA revealed that government departments had forked out a combined total of R194m on catering, and R31.7m on entertainment in the 2011/12 financial year.
Earlier this year, EWN reported that Parliament had spent R16m on catering. - Sunday Argus