Newspaper reports on Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s state-funded holiday trip to Abu Dhabi continued on Thursday despite official assurances that no laws were broken.
Beeld said if Mlambo-Ngcuka were not so ”fussy” about an ordinary seat in business class, she could have saved the taxpayer R530 000.
The Citizen quoted the Public Services Accountability Monitor (PSAM), a corruption watchdog, as saying she should repay all costs incurred on the trip to the United Arab Emirates.
The Star focused on other ways the R700 000 the visit is estimated to have cost could have been put to use. For 22 families it would have provided a roof over their heads for life, reported the paper.
Mlambo-Ngcuka used a South African Air Force Falcon 900 jet at a cost of between R400 000 and R700 000 for a holiday to the United Arab Emirates in December.
Seeking to quell the controversy over the trip, Presidency spokesperson Murphy Morobe said on Tuesday: ”In no respect did the deputy president — or those who took the decisions regarding the modalities of travel to Abu Dhabi — infringe any law, regulation or prescript.”
He confirmed the wife of Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya accompanied Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Also on board were her husband, Bulelani, their two children, and two children of a personal assistant. The assistant travelled separately, said Morobe.
On Thursday, Beeld calculated the difference between the R700 000 and what it would have cost Mlambo-Ngcuka, her family, a friend, and her bodyguards to fly with South African Airways.
Four return tickets to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from Johannesburg for Mlambo-Ngcuka, her husband and two of their children in business class on SAA partner Emirates would have cost R20 046 a person (if they booked early).
Another seven seats on the same flight (economy class) for her staff, her assistant’s two children and Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya would have cost R13 116 a person. The total: R171 996.
If the Falcon flight cost R700 000, that was R528 004 extra.
The PSAM told The Citizen that Mlambo-Ngcuka breached the Executive Members’ Ethics Act.
Director Colm Allan referred to the Act’s Section 2.3(d), which he said prohibits members of the executive from using their positions to enrich themselves.
”Essentially there has not been a compelling explanation from the Presidency on how the taxpayers’ money was used for official purposes.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka should, therefore, repay costs incurred, said Allan.
Referring to a remark by Morobe that R700 000 was a drop in the ocean in the fight against poverty, The Star listed a number of ways the money could have been spent otherwise.
It said the government could have built 22 Reconstruction and Development Programme houses at a cost of about R30 000 each with the money.
With five people making up the average South African family, this means that 100 people could have been housed.
The money would also have been enough to buy 175 000 loaves of bread, and 4,4-million people could have received a slice each, The Star said. — Sapa