MBOMBELA – Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane denied any knowledge of how her charming picture ended up branded on the sanitizer buckets distributed to the poor to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
This comes after opposition parties have called on her to instruct the service provider and manufacturing company, Merivian Hygiene, to remove her face from the buckets of sanitisers.
The Premier spearheaded a Covid-19 screening campaign in Nkangala’s Dr JS Moroka municipality on Wednesday a week ago. Buckets of sanitisers branded with her face and the logo of the Mpumalanga provincial government were distributed to the needy citizens.
“Her face doesn’t belong there, said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Jane Sithole. The DA is extremely concerned that the Premier decided to put her face on the sanitiser buckets funded by taxpayers money, Sithole said.
Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Collen Sedibe said, “We call upon the provincial government and the Premier to instruct the manufacturers of the buckets or the service providers to remove her face from the buckets of sanitisers. More than 15 000 buckets were distributed in the province so far.
Premier’s spokesperson Sibongile Mkani-Mpolweni told the Highveld Chronicle, “The Premier was only made aware when she saw the buckets with her picture and the provincial logo on the day the sanitizers were distributed. The supplier has since apologised for using the image. They had used it based on the fact that the Premier is the supreme executive authority of the province. Hence, they used both her picture and the Mpumalanga provincial logo, Mkani-Mpolweni said.
Merivian Hygiene, a Johannesburg based company that manufactured and supplied the sanitisers, said they were not instructed by the Premier to place her image on the buckets. “We decided to put the picture because she endorses the programme as the first citizen of the province,explained Danie de Velliers, General Manager. “I don’t know why there’s an uproar regarding it, de Villiers said.
On the other hand, the residents of Dr JS Moroka have also voiced their dismay about the sanitiser buckets. Community member, George Thugwana, said these sanitisers looked a bit unusual. “This does not look like a normal sanitiser. It is a blue liquid substance with a lot of water added on to dilute it, he said.
Another community member called Jabu shared Thugwana’s sentiments. This is not like the normal sanitiser I know. It has lots of water on it,” he said. De Villiers said the sanitiser was water-based. It is a SABS approved chemical which has a dilution on it. The chemical kills the bacteria. It’s a 1 percent dilution in the bucket as per the manufacturer’s specifications, he said.
