The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Tuesday said the latest allegations that Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya, and possibly her husband, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, were on the air-force flight of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka when she travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reinforce its call for a new rule book to be drafted to regulate the use of public facilities by government ministers.
The Presidency on Monday said Skweyiya was not on the recent holiday flight with Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
This follows a report issued by the official opposition Democratic Alliance that it had uncorroborated information that Skweyiya was on the controversial flight.
Presidential spokesperson Murphy Morobe said that following media queries, the Presidency wished to state that ”Minister Zola Skweyiya did not travel with the deputy president”.
Morobe also said that the statements issued by the Presidency on this matter on January 10 and 12 and comments by the deputy president to the South African Broadcasting Corporation articulated ”all necessary considerations associated with her travel” to the UAE.
Morobe confirmed at the time that Mlambo-Ngcuka took a flight to go on holiday — and it was not for work purposes. This was in line with Cabinet policy.
Cosatu said in its statement that while it is accepted that the president and deputy president remain in public office even when they are on private business, and that they still require adequate security protection, there must be limits on the amount of public money that is spent on their private activities.
According to the union federation, the new rule-book limitation must cover situations where friends are invited ”to enjoy the luxury provided by taxpayers’ money”.
Cosatu added that it will not comment further on the suggestion that the minister of social development was involved until it has more information about that.
”We live in a country that is still emerging from the illegal apartheid system, which was corrupt and immoral to the bone. We inherited a country with huge inequalities in which the filthy rich and desperately poor lived side by side. This continues today in the business world.
”In the new South Africa, under the leadership of the African National Congress — an organisation that arose in opposition to the apartheid morality and all that it stood for — we are seeking to radically transform the state and its institutions to reflect the new traditions and cultures of the democratic movement. Central to that culture and tradition are solidarity, equity, selflessness and sacrifice, to serve our people.”
Cosatu said that from this point of view it is totally immoral to have a rule book that permits the president or deputy president or any other minister to enjoy their leisure at public expense.
”Workers on low salaries have to save small sums of money each month in order to take their families away for a short holiday, so why should ministers on huge salaries not at the very least be obliged to pay the equivalent of what their holiday would have cost had they been travelling as private citizens?”
The union said there can be no justification for anyone being given free holidays at taxpayers’ expense, especially when millions of South Africans are living in deep poverty and cannot even dream of having any kind of holiday. — I-Net Bridge