Confederation used to pay for the flopped Freedom Day celebration

Bloemfontein – The Department of Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation (SACR) in Free State has finally paid for the controversial Freedom Day celebration, albeit via its Confederation.

Dubbed the flop of the century, the Freedom Day celebration held in Thaba Nchu was only attended by service providers as the department and office of the Premier failed to organize transport for 20,000 attendees.

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Details of what transpired were laid bare in a leaked voice note of Limakatso Mahasa, former MEC of SACR after she asked Steve Tshabalala, head of department for a detailed report.

In the voice note we can confirm was sent to revered Advocate Zola Majavu, Mahasa asked for advice as she claimed the erstwhile Premier-now-Speaker of Legislature, Mxolisi Dukwana asked her to write a letter requesting to take time off.

Mahasa, further claimed she had nothing to do with the event and Tshabalala took full responsibility for the event or lack thereof.

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STEPUPSANEWS has it on good authority that payment has been processed via the Confederation but according to what Tshabalala said in the audio, by Friday, there was no service provider appointed.

So who was supposed to appoint the service providers and what is the department paying for?

In the same audio, Tshabalala can be heard saying the service providers didn’t respond to the request for quotations so who got the stage, sound, trends, and artists?

The tender documents of statues went missing in 2019 and if what Tshabalala said in the meeting with Dukwana is true then there was no appointment of service providers.

Supply Chain at SACR is most of the time the suspect, and there is no consequence management.

At one point a security company was on a month-to-month contract for more than two years.

In her swearing-in speech, Joyce Mathae, newly elected Free State Premier said her administration will fight corruption. This will be a test for her.

Events in Free State Provincial Government continue to be cash cows for politicians and companies.

This is a developing story.

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