DA chief whip Watty Watson has accused the government of ‘riding on a new kind of gravy train’. Photo: Matthew Jordaan

The government has been accused of living large at the expense of the poor after it emerged that 21 departments had spent R600 million on catering and entertainment over the past four years.

“The government would rather splash cash on cocktails and canapés than fund the delivery of basic services to South Africans living in poverty,” DA chief whip Watty Watson said on Monday.

He accused the government of “riding a new kind of gravy train”.

A series of written parliamentary replies has shown the No 1 spender was the Department of International Relations and Co-operation. It has forked out more than R216m on entertainment and catering since 2007/8. The Police Department came in second, with over R113m, while Justice and Constitutional Development was third with more than R48m.

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