Cosatu slams minister Mthethwa for contentious ‘R22m monumental flag’

The minister of sports, arts and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, was slammed hard by the trade union federation, Cosatu for ‘ignoring’ poor South Africans as he is on verge of erecting R22 million high flag in Pretoria, Gauteng.

Cosatu has called for the minister to be sacked, labelling him ‘the worst-performing minister’ in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet.

The outrage came following the ministry’s plan to erect a 120m flag at the Freedom Park Heritage site in Pretoria, symbolising unity and democracy.

According to the ministry, the flag’s installation will cost the treasury department a whooping R17 million, while five more million rands will be needed for the geotechnical studies.

Cosatu’s national spokesperson, Sizwe Palma, called the spending of millions on a flag to be an outrageous and unreasonable move by the department.

Palma said the country had too many issues ranging from starvation to lack of shelter.

“We find the entire thing ridiculous to be honest. We are talking about a country here that is struggling. People are sleeping under bridges and go to bed hungry. Plus or minus 16 million South Africans are struggling to get three meals a day. We have enough tourist attractions in this country,” added Palma.

Palma warned the National Treasury that, they would also be held accountable should the flag be erected,

Despite the outrage, Mthethwa has continuously defended the department’s plans to spend R22 million on the national monumental flag project.

In a response to Freedom Front Plus query that the ministry was not prioritising its mandate, Mthethwa said it was the department’s mandate amongst others to create monuments, of which the flag is a part of for democracy.

Mthethwa further justified his case for the exorbitantly priced flag, citing AfriForum’s legal battle relating to the apartheid-era flag.

AfriForum is seeking to set aside the Equality Court’s 2019 ruling that declared the “gratuitous displays” of the flag, in public and private spaces, hate speech.