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ActionSA expresses outrage at the receipt of a parliamentary reply that was four months late from the Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who has brazenly evaded public accountability by dubiously submitting her travel expenses to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence — a secretive committee closed to both the public and the broader Parliament.

This is nothing more than a deliberate attempt to further shield her spending from scrutiny. Consequently, ActionSA has today written to the Speaker of Parliament, Thoko Didiza, to demand urgent intervention and defend the integrity of Parliament’s oversight role. This conduct cannot be allowed to stand, and the reply must be made public immediately. 

Every Minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU) was asked the same question on travel expenses. All others who responded did so transparently. Only the Minister in the Presidency has opted to hide and we ask, “why?”

Is it because ActionSA recently exposed over R200 million in excessive GNU spending, including the Deputy President’s outrageous R950,000 bill for four nights of accommodation in Japan and the R160,000 spent by the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture on a trip to Burkina Faso that never took place?

The GNU has turned the public purse into a private travel slush fund. The Minister in the Presidency’s actions reveal a flagrant disdain for accountability and a total disregard for the public’s right to know how their money is spent.

This is exactly why ActionSA has introduced our maiden piece of legislation, Alan Beesley’s Enhanced Cabinet Perks Cut Bill, to restore sanity to rampant executive excess.

South Africans deserve leaders who serve with humility, not luxury cloaked in secrecy.

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary Chief Whip Lerato Ngobeni