Royal family SUVs: DA accuses Zikalala of lying about cost

KwaZulu-Natal premier, Sihle Zikalala misled the public about the money spent on vehicles for the Zulu royal queens last year, according to the Democratic Alliance (DA).

In December last year, the provincial government delivered six new SUVs to the royal family in Ulundi.

Zikalala said the purchase was part of an agreement that the late king Goodwill Zwelithini had with his government.

He told reporters at the time that the policy on buying cars for political office bearers was followed, and that the SUVs didn’t cost more than R800,000 each.

But DA provincial leader, Zwakele Mnwango has argued that the sixth vehicle was the only one that cost less than R800,000.

In a written reply – signed by Zikalala in the legislature to Mncwango regarding the exact cost of the vehicles, the five cars were itemised as having a price tag of just over R1 million with value-added tax (VAT) included.

Each vehicle cost R873,469 before VAT was added.

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According to the response, the Toyota Fortuner cost R673,000 after the addition of VAT. The are other five cars were Toyota Prados.

“We expect him to be honest and tell us why he said that the six vehicles were bought for less than R800,000 each. We expect him to admit that his office ignored the R5 million budget for the cars and instead spent R5.6 million,” Mncwango said.

Zikalala should apologise to the public, the DA provincial leader added.

“The question is whether he deliberately misled the people or whether he was given the incorrect information by his own officials. If the latter is the case, then he must indicate exactly who misled him and what action will be taken.

“We also expect him to advise whether this amount was approved by Treasury. The DA will, in the interim, submit a parliamentary question to Treasury to establish this. In the event that it was not approved, this is set to be yet another red-flag for KwaZulu-Natal from the Auditor-General.”

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‘No contradiction’

The premier’s spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said Mncwango “conflated VAT and the actually prices of the vehicles – a mathematics problem he may need to be assist on”.

“A close examination of the report will reveal that there is no contradiction in what the Premier said. The actual vehicles are within the R800,000 range, which is in tandem with the premier’s articulations,” he said in a written reply.

He accused Mncwango of campaigning to “ridicule and demonise” the royal household.

According to Mabaso, Mncwango’s crusade against the Zulu royals started in 2015.

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“In 2015 Mr Mncwango in Ethekwini published a demonising statement calling the sponsoring of Zulu maidens conference a waste and complained about the King [Zwelithini’s] flights.

“That narrative moved to the budget for support to the royal household, hypocritically, this happened as he glorified the opulent lifestyle of the British monarchy.”

The provincial government, Mabaso said, would continue to support the royal family and had no regrets in doing so.