All journeys undertaken by President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka this year will be investigated by a commission of inquiry, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota announced on Wednesday evening.
Beeld newspaper reported on Thursday that all journeys undertaken between January 1 and December 10 will be investigated by the commission.
Mlambo-Ngcuka recently boarded a multimillion-rand flight to the United Kingdom in a hired Swiss jet, which cost taxpayers an estimated R4,55-million.
This week, Talk Radio 702 revealed that Mlambo-Ngcuka in mid-October had travelled to Australia and New Zealand on an official visit to meet political and economic leaders of the region — at a cost to taxpayers of more than R3-million.
Beeld reported that Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesperson for the Department of Defence, would not confirm the radio station’s report.
The cost of the deputy president’s trip to the United Kingdom was “irregular and way out of proportion with reasonable standards”, Lekota said in a statement at the weekend. The plane had been hired by someone in the Department of Defence without authorisation from the ministry, the secretary for defence or the acting chief of the South African National Defence Force.
Lekota has said the Presidency cannot be held responsible for the expensive journey as the Defence Department is in charge of all presidential travel arrangements.
It was the deputy president’s third brush with travel-expense controversy following her trip to the United Arab Emirates at the end of last year and a R75 000 flight to a golf tournament in Sun City earlier this year.
The United Arab Emirates trip will not form part of the inquiry announced by Lekota, as it took place before January 1 this year.
DA MP Gareth Morgan noted in a statement on Monday that the Public Protector had in August recommended that issues of travel by members of the Presidency should be incorporated into the handbook and discussed by the Cabinet “as a matter of urgency”.