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Pietermaritzburg – Cosatu and the SACP on Wednesday said they did not support the buying of World Cup tickets for members of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.

"I was not aware that tickets have been bought for the members. Members of the legislature earn enough money to buy tickets," said SACP provincial secretary Themba Mthembu.

His understanding was that no free tickets would be bought for government or municipal officials.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan earlier this year recommended that municipalities, provincial departments and national departments refrain from spending public money on World Cup tickets.

Cosatu provincial secretary Zet Luzipho said it would have been better if tickets were given to officials from the tourism and sport departments, because they directly dealt with World Cup visitors.

"We have a problem when you buy tickets for members of the legislature," he said.

Marketing campaign

Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize's spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said the KwaZulu-Natal government had bought tickets as part of its "marketing campaign".

However, DA caucus leader John Steenhuisen did not buy the story that it was part of marketing the province.

"How can you market the province to people who are already here? This is just a wasteful expenditure. We don’t believe that politicians should expect to be treated differently," he said.

The DA wanted to establish from Finance MEC Ina Cronje exactly how many provincial government departments purchased tickets, how many were purchased and how they were distributed.

The DA also wanted to find out from Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube whether any local, metropolitan or district councils purchased tickets with ratepayers' money.

Steenhuisen said he had refused to accept a ticket from the premier’s office.

"We don’t accept tickets funded by taxpayers' money."