SA pays for Phumzile's break
2006-01-10 08:28
Pretoria - Deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngquka's holiday in the United Arab Emirates cost the taxpayer nearly R400 000.
Mlambo-Ngquka took her husband Bulelani and their children to Abu Dhabi in
one of the Air Force's VIP planes.
Experts estimate the cost of such a flight at about R384 000 for the fuel alone. The crew's and bodyguards' foreign allowances and accommodation, landing fees and overflight authorisation costs are not included in this amount.
It was learnt that Mlambo-Ngquka used the Air Force's Falcon 900 for the
flight. The Falcon is the number two VIP plane after the Boeing business jet generally used by President Thabo Mbeki.
As far as could be determined, the group of 12 went to Abu Dhabi around
Christmas and returned shortly before New Year. Mlambo-Ngquka was on leave and had no official duties.
Trip 'unofficial'
According to the rules, the VIP planes may be used only for official visits.
In the past few years it became "customary" for former president Nelson
Mandela and after him, President Thabo Mbeki, to use one of the planes once
a year for their annual leave, since a group of bodyguards and other personal staff members had to come along in any case.
Spokesperson for the presidency Murphy Morobe confirmed on inquiry from a journalist that the trip was unofficial and that members of her family accompanied her.
He said the deputy president used "transport allocated to her in terms of
the cabinet manual".
This means that transport is provided to her but she is personally responsible for additional expenses such as accommodation. The transport costs will be offset against the presidential budget and besides this, there are no additional costs to the state. He would not say how many public officials accompanied her.
An informed source said on Monday it was the first time Mlambo-Ngquka has used official transport for private purposes since her appointment as deputy president.
"Her predecessor (Jacob Zuma) kept the air force busy, because he went
regularly in one of the VIP planes to KwaZulu-Natal where he lived.
Empty aircraft may be used for other official passengers
"He would fly from Cape Town or Pretoria to Durban, where a helicopter from 15 Squadron in Durban would take him to Nkandla and back to Durban again at the end of the weekend."
A few years ago deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, at the
time the defence deputy minister, offered to pay for at least one special
Air Force flight for her husband and children to travel from Cape Town to
Pretoria.
Defence ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said then that she had not
contravened the rules by allowing her husband and children to fly in the plane because it was necessitated by work circumstances.
Mkhwanazi said the official manual states that VIP aircraft that fly empty to a destination to fetch a dignitary may be used for other official passengers.
"Ministers' and deputy ministers' families may on occasion accompany them on a flight. The requests are handled by the head of ministerial services," he said.