The DA says it has been reliably informed that the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, stayed over in a luxury ocean-facing suite at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks.

The political party put the cost at R11,000. BusinessTech confirmed with the Oyster Box Hotel that a one night stay in a luxury ocean-facing suite on a Sunday is approximately R10,700, while a regular ocean-facing suite costs approximately R5,700.

Dlamini recently stated in a reply to a DA parliamentary question that Social Grant Beneficiaries should be able to live on R753 per month to buy “adequate food as well as additional non-food items”.

“This hotel stay makes it clear that she herself could not survive on the R753 she expects millions of South Africans to live on from month to month,” said Bridget Masango,

DA Shadow Minister of Social Development.

The DA alleged that Dlamini stayed over at the Oyster Box Hotel with two other ANC members.

“This is further evidence of just how much the ANC governs like poor black lives don’t matter to them. This has been compounded by the ANC’s failure to support several proposals made by the DA which would have reallocated R9.52 billion in the 2016/17 budget towards measures that could improve the lives of people in South Africa,” Masango said.

The Department of Social Development did not reply to BusinessTech’s questions by time of publication.

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