Seven international trips in six months for Cogta ministers cost R10 million

Promoting diplomacy at home and abroad in the latter half of 2024 came at a cost.

The travel expenditure of government officials has been closely scrutinised, with departments regularly registering seven-figure bills.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his 75-member government of national unity (GNU) cabinet, questions were already being raised about the potential for increased expenditure.

R9.9 million spent since July

Members of parliament were sworn in on 14 June 2024, with President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing the cabinet on 30 June.

The Department of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) is one of the ministries with two deputies under the GNU.

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A parliamentary question posed to Cogta Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa asked the ministry how much had been spent on the minister and the two deputies’ travel costs.

In a written response to the question submitted in December, it was revealed that Minister Hlabisa’s travel bill since taking office six months ago stood at R3.4 million.

Additionally, deputy ministers Zolile Burns-Ncamashe and Dickson Masemola have racked up a combined R6.5 million in travel expenses, R3.9 million and R2.6 million, respectively.

Three trips overseas

The ministry said the trips were necessary to fulfil its mandate, both domestically and internationally.

Domestic trips included travelling to Cape Town for parliamentary commitments, oversight visits, and responding to disaster areas and engagements with municipalities and traditional leaders.

Four of the international trips were to African countries — two disaster management conferences in Namibia and Zimbabwe, a public service conference in Ethiopia and a conference on drug addiction in Tanzania.

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On the international stage, the ministry was represented at a G20 Disaster Risk Reduction conference in Brazil, as well as the 2024 China International Friendship Cities Friendship with Foreign Countries conference in China.

The ministry’s lone trip to Europe was to Germany for the signing of a joint declaration between the German and South African government related to integrated urban development.

Economic growth needed

Cogta’s expenditure comes a month after Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe revealed his department spent nearly R2 million on international travel in just four months.

The previous month, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie shared a detailed cost breakdown of his trip to Paris for the Olympic Games which came at a cost of almost R 1 million.

The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) warned at the formation of the GNU that the nation was fiscally in a worse financial position than it was 30 years ago.

“Years of large structural gaps between government’s revenues and its spending have wiped out the fiscal progress achieved in the first 15 years of democracy,” stated CDE Executive Director Ann Bernstein.

The GNU has been touted as a way to make South Africa more economically competitive, and Bernstein added that economic growth would be the best way to offset large public expenditures.

“The effect of growth on fiscal sustainability is instantaneous because a growing economy can sustain existing levels of debt more comfortably,” Bernstein concluded.

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