ActionSA has uncovered a staggering R16 million in travel expenses claimed by the Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, her deputy, and their staff.
This comes at a time when the ANC wanted to squeeze an extra 2% VAT out of the already-empty South African pockets.
Kubayi and her entourage spent R5.3 million on just five international trips, while a further R11 million was spent on vague “official engagements” nationally. The minister did not provide any details on what these engagements entailed, but it must have been a lovely road trip.
The vague details emerged after an ActionSA Parliamentary Question. Some of the more “aggressious’ expenses included:
- One night’s accommodation for the Minister in Beijing to attend the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) – R198,040
- Two nights’ accommodation for the minister to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in San Francisco – R209,614
- Accommodation for her “personal assistant” for the WEF event – R140,565.00
The accommodation must have been way nicer than the rat-infested human settlements many of our taxpayers are still forced to live in.
Naturally, ActionSA has been freaking out over the ‘wasteful expenditure’, saying “ActionSA will continue to expose the flagrant wastage by ministers through our GNU Performance Tracker and hold them accountable for the unchecked squandering of state resources, defining this so-called “Government of National Unity” as nothing more than a continuation of ANC misgovernance.”
The party proposed a solution to curb “unchecked ministerial excess”, which they believe could save taxpayers an estimated R1.5 billion: “Scrap all Deputy Ministers and cut the bloated cabinet from 75 to a lean efficient 20.”
Sounds like a good idea.
