South Africa’s richest province spent R21.3 million on data and cellphones for government employees

• The Gauteng Department of e-Government has paid MTN R19.6 million in the last three financial years for data and cellphone services, as part of a three-year R21.3 million contract.
• The department revealed the payments in a response to questions from the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng Legislature, and the DA said the department’s yearly service spend accounted for approximately 71% of its R1.94 billion annual budget.
• The DA said that the spending raised questions about whether the Department of e-Government had sufficient internal skills and capacity to fulfil its mandate, and taxpayers are entitled to know exactly what they are receiving for their money.