The South African government donated a total of R45-million to the Office of the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire, says South African President Thabo Mbeki.
In a written reply to a question from Democratic Alliance MP Mannetjies Grobler, the presidency said that the Office of the Facilitator received money “from many donors in the international community”.
Mbeki said about R36-million was spent on the inter-Congolese dialogue plenary session from February 25 to April 19 2002 at Sun City.
“Another amount of R7,2-million was spent on the negotiations in Pretoria from October 25 2002 to March 7 2003.
“The balance of the South African contribution, which was the equivalent of about R1,8-million, was spent to cover costs pertaining to the final plenary session at Sun City on April 1 and 2 2003.”
Asked if arising from the dialogue hosted by South Africa the South African government had donated any vehicles or equipment to any of the four deputy presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who took office as a result of the process, Mbeki said: “No. The South African government did not donate vehicles to the deputy presidents of the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo].
“However, the South African government did provide a loan to the Office of the Facilitator before the final plenary at Sun City. Part of this loan was used to purchase five vehicles for the president and four vice-presidents of the transitional government in the DRC. The full amount of the loan will be recovered by the South African government from the Office of the Facilitator.” — I-Net Bridge