Mbalula: Did taxpayers pay for De Lille’s trip to New York? 

The Executive Mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille attended the Women4Climate conference in New York. The conference started on Wednesday. On Thursday the mayor shared a picture of herself with comedian and The Daily Show host Trevor Noah and said she had a “good catch-up with a great South African son”.

“So proud of him and all his achievements,” she said.

The mayor has since returned from the trip.

However, the trip has left Minister of Sports and Recreation Fikile Mbalula with questions.

“Who paid for Patricia De Lille Mayor of Cape Town?” He asked News24 editor Adriaan Basson.

“Is it our tax?”

Basson responded and told Mbalula that he was right in asking the question

“Dear Minister, I completely agree with you. I’m glad that you now concur public officials have to explain foreign travels.”

Basson caused a stir on Twitter after asking the minister who funded his trip to attend a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas in 2015.

“The minister of sport is in Las Vegas to watch a boxing match. Wonder who paid. Hope not the public purse,” he tweeted at the time.

A twar ensued between the two, with the minister insisting that he was there in his personal capacity.

“Adrian, please note that in the new democratic dispensation a Black man can afford to go to America without using your tax.

“I’m SA employee, I clock to work and wait for month end. It’s ignorant and stupid to assume every time I blink it’s your money.

“Had it been a white politician, in AMERICA today to watch a Sport event would the likes of @AdriaanBasson asked ‘who paid’ NO,” Mbalula told Basson at the time.

Basson, who has not questioned De Lille’s trip, seems to have reached an agreement with Mbalula that officials should explain foreign trips.