The travel scandal which has been dubbed “travelgate” by some politicians is turning out to be a complex web of intrigue with differing ticket names, different amounts claimed and a strong suggestion of cross-party bartering taking place.
While it is still not clear whether in the case of scores of claims using parliamentary travel vouchers issued to Members of Parliament involve the fraudulent activity on the part of travel agents working alone or whether they needed to work in tandem with members — or indeed, whether the MPs knowingly committed the fraud themselves — investigators are having to unravel a mountain of information.
For example, an opposition United Democratic Movement MP, recently re-elected to Parliament, is apparently listed under the name of a former colleague — one of those who happened to join the African National Congress last year — for an airline ticket. South African Airways indicated that the fare differs in this case by R1Â 700 to over R5Â 300 for a ticket issued by ITC travel in March 2002.
In the case of another UDM MP, his name appears under that of an African National Congress MP. The intriguing thing is the UDM MP was not a Member of Parliament at the time — as the voucher was apparently used in February 2002, two years before he became a Member of Parliament.
In that case, the issue date, route fare, and form of payment was noted to be different by South African Airways. The voucher amount differed by about three thousand rand, totalling R6Â 100.
In another case the same UDM MP apparently used a voucher in the name of an ANC member — who happens to be a woman — in the National Council of Provinces. The ticket was used in May 2002.
A former New National Party MP’s voucher was apparently also used by an African National Congress MP and the cost differs by about R2Â 000 — with a voucher amount of about R6Â 200 for a flight taken in April 2002.
There are a number of instances where ANC MPs — or their agents — appear to have used the names of other ANC MPs in the scam. In one case a former chairperson of a parliamentary committee features in several cancelled SAA tickets that were later claimed from Parliament.
Similarly cancelled — but claimed — airline tickets were listed against the name of a member of the government by another travel agency. She was an MP at the time and was friendly with one of the travel agents arrested last week.
Another agency has unpaid car hire invoices involving several senior members of government countrywide.
Meanwhile National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete has cancelled a scheduled press briefing on the travel scam. She was recently presented with a copy of a forensic audit by PriceWaterhouseCoopers — but this has not been released to the media. ‒ I-Net Bridge