EC treasury defends Madiba funeral expenditure in newspaper ad

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The fall-out over the alleged misuse of state funds for the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela continues.

The Eastern Cape Treasury place a half-page advertisement in local newspapers today explaining how and why an amount of R250 000 had been deposited into the private bank account of Finance MEC, Phumulo Masualle, who is one of several people being considered to be the next premier of the Eastern Cape.

In the advertisement, Treasury said the transfer of the money to Masualle's account had been authorised by the Head of Department, in line with the Ministerial Handbook.

It says the money was made available for Masualle, as leader of government business, to cater for all preparations since the extraordinary circumstances needed instant authorisations and payments without following normal procurement procedures.

Treasury goes on further to say that Masualle, who reportedly returned the money, had only spent just over R5 200 from the account opened for him and not 30 000 as claimed in one newspaper article.

The Eastern Cape Treasury says all documentation related to expenditure for Madiba's funeral are available for public scrutiny.