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| author/source:Standard (Zimb) |
| published:Sun 19-Mar-2006 |
| posted on this site:Mon 20-Mar-2006 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| “I am not sure whether the minister is paying for his stay, if he is paying, it must be heavily subsidised” |
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By Valentine Maponga
Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism and MP for Insiza, Andrew Langa, is using a refurbished Chivero National Parks lodge as his home for the next five months, The Standard can reveal. Investigations have revealed that Langa is staying at the comfortably refurnished and well-equipped lodge named, Kingfisher, prejudicing the National Parks of millions of dollars. The National Parks falls under Langa’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Sources at the Parks lodges last week told this paper that the bookings for the minister are “indefinite”. “The other lodge has been booked indefinitely and we are not sure when the minister (Langa) is leaving,” said one warden at the lodges, about 35km out of Harare. However, officers from the National Parks’ reservations department last week said the lodge has been booked for the next five months. While the officers were not at liberty to talk about the minister’s booking, one of the The Standard’s sources said: “I am not sure whether the minister is paying for his stay, if he is paying, it must be heavily subsidised.” The lodge rates are $3.2 million a night, which means that Langa is supposed to be spending over $96 million a month on accommodation alone. It was not immediately clear how much Langa earns a month.
The sources said Langa moved out of a house in Mt Pleasant, where he was staying since his appointment as a deputy minister last year. National Parks public relations manager, Edward Mbewe, said he was not aware that the minister was staying at the lodges but said they do offer discounts to their regular clients. “Nothing has been communicated to me about that and I will have to find out from our reservations. No one stays in our lodges for free because our places are run professionally,” Mbewe said. Contacted for comment, Langa refused to talk, demanding to know the source of the story. “Who gave you that information? Go and get that comment from your source. I can’t talk to you about my personal life,” said Langa before switching off his mobile phone. In January The Standard reported that Matabeleland North governor, Thokozile Mathuthu, was living at a Bulawayo hotel for months. The revelations prompted Mathuthu to move out of the hotel.
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