REVEALED: HILLARY’S BMW NOT PAINTED BUT PLASTIC-COATED

MBABANE – The curtain is closing in on Washington Khumalo. 

The Central Transport Administration (CTA) General Transport Manager admitted that the issue of former Minister of Justice Edgar Hillary’s BMW X5 SUV car was not painted but coated with plastic cotton. 

Khumalo was answering to queries by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in parliament yesterday. This was after the Chairman of the PAC and Matsanjeni North Member of Parliament Phila Buthelezi read a letter from the former Minister Hillary which disputed claims that he ordered for his car, given to him by government as per the Finance Circular No 2 of 2013, to be painted black.  

The issue of the motor vehicle made headlines in local publications as the PAC learnt with outrage that it cost the taxpayer E102 000 to repaint the motor vehicle just because it was not in the colour which the former minister preferred, which he was disputing in the letter. 

Initially, Khumalo had told the PAC that two BMWs were purchased by the ministry, one belonging to the Attorney General and the other to the former minister and the original colours of the vehicles were metallic silver grey. 

It was alleged that the former minister said he was not comfortable with the colour of the vehicle particularly because it was not black like the other vehicles which had been allocated to other Cabinet Ministers and asked if he could be furnished with a black one. 

In his letter, Hillary disputed all the claims that he wanted the vehicle to be repainted to black. In the letter, he said he was amongst the longest serving civil servants having served his entire tenure without any allegation of corruption or misconduct.

 He said it was for that reason that the matter was terribly discontenting. He said according to Finance No 2 of 2013, Ministers were issued with BMW X5 SUVs upon their appointment, which he received when he assumed office as the Minister of Justice in April 2015. 

Disruption

“However it amassed confusion in the wake of great disruption as I was appointed to replace a newly removed minister. Owing to this situation as well as the fact that a suitable vehicle could not be found on my appointment, I was not issued with a vehicle as is the standard procedure,” he said. 

Hillary said around 2018, he was advised by Washington Khumalo, the General Transport Manager that they had found a vehicle for him that was grey and not black as was the standard practice. Hillary said Khumalo assured him that this would be of no consequence as it would be painted in the correct colour. 

The former minister said the situation did not alarm him in the slightest as firstly, he had not selected or purchased the said motor vehicle and he had been assured that it would be of no issue as it would be painted in the correct colour. He said when the vehicle arrived, it was black as indicated and he was informed that it was covered with a black substance. 

“I did not raise an issue with this as I assumed that it was handled by professionals. I’ve now been informed that the paint used on the motor vehicle cost an amount of E102 000, a fact which is alarming to me. I assumed at the time that the motor vehicle purchased for me would be black and that was the colour of all the vehicles at the time,” he said. 

 Hillary said he was not responsible for sourcing or purchasing of the said motor vehicle, any expenditure associated with the purchase of the motor vehicle falls exclusively to the Principal Secretary as the Controlling Officer in the Ministry of Justice. 

“Therefore, for this reason I do not believe I should be liable for any expenditure and any inquiries should be directed to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Justice as the Controlling Officer of the ministry,” he added. 

Responding to the letter, Khumalo was astonished that the former minister was actually distancing himself from the repainting of the car when he actually made the call to have it repainted.  

“We offered to give Hillary the car that was used by the removed minister and he refused it, citing that it was old and damaged. I must say that the car was in good condition and it is currently utilised by another minister. When we presented the car  that we found for him, he insisted that we should repaint it so that it was uniform with the cars of the other ministers, despite alerting him that the AG had actually been given a green light by his Principals to use his car in the colour that it was presented to him,” explained Khumalo. 

However, Khumalo did not deny that the car was not painted but covered, coated with plastic cotton, much to the confusion of the members of the PAC. 

Appointed MP Prince Mfanawemakhosi said it was astonishing that  Khumalo had previously told them that the car was painted but yesterday admitted that it was actually coated with plastic cotton. 

Peeled

The House was further shocked to learn that the plastic cotton had peeled off from the car as revealed by Buthelezi who said he actually saw the car in its original colour. 

Dvokodvweni MP Mduduzi Magagula posed a question to Khumalo where he wanted to know how many of the Government fleet of cars were coated with plastic cotton and how much did it cost to have a car coated with the same material. Khumalo said Hillary’s car was the only Government vehicle to have the material. 

However, he maintained that the repainting of the vehicle cost E102 000. 

The consensus was that a consultation should be made to BMW South Africa to determine what really transpired in the repainting of the car and to also determine if the taxpayers were not robbed of their money through the exercise of repainting the car. 

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