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MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN

I just love anyone who agrees with me that Matron Morley's "pageant" is a total waste of money and is a sham from start to finish. This report appeared in the Mail & Guardian recently:

"The Mail & Guardian has seen the confidential report, which criticises the metropolitan council’s motivation for splashing out R90-million on the pageant in December 2009. "The motivation has not been backed by concrete evidence, including a breakdown of ancillary cost and a cost-benefit analysis," said the report.

"[The task team] also finds the explanation that the event would contribute to 'advertising' the city as a preferred safe destination is not convincing, given the city's history in hosting major world events. The fact that the event happened just months before the city was to play the nucleus role in the Fifa World Cup makes a mockery of the motivation."

The findings come as a surprise, given that the council repeatedly and publicly defended its hosting of the pageant when the cost was discovered. The report was written in early 2010 by a task team comprising ANC provincial secretary David Makhura, regional secretary Pule Mlambo and local government experts Pascal Moloi and Mogomotsi Mogodiri.

"The task team is disappointed that the Johannesburg Tourism Company invested all its two-year allocation from the bidding fund on a single event. The strain on the city's finances and the negative publicity it attracted could have been avoided."

Bravo Mail & Guardian. Now can you spent a little money on the rehabilitation of those countries gullible enough to buy into her "beauty with a purpose" angle and teach them that it is nothing more than a devious act on her part to "guilt" people into filling her personal coffers.