News24 | Cash-strapped City of Joburg to splurge R2m on jackets, flowers, watches for glitzy staff shindig

The City of Johannesburg plans to splurge R2.6 million on a year-end event for long-serving employees incurring costs inflated by as much as 766% for goods and services for the ceremony, such as R40 000 for flowers, R300 000 for jackets, R769 000 for watches and R171 000 for vague service fees.

The event, which would honour City employees who served 40 years or more, seemingly goes against National Treasury cost containment regulations and saw the reallocation of R2 million from the City's locomotive savings to supplement the original council-approved budget, according to documents News24 has seen.

City manager Floyd Brink was one of the officials who signed off the ceremony, despite legal advisor warnings that it went against cost containment measures relating to catering, "especially under the current financial climate".

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