Edna Molewa, the Minister of Social Development, and her deputy, Edna Molewa, have spent more than R4.4 million in 6 months. This was for travel expenses in first six months of the 2009/10 financial year, according to a reply to a Parliamentary question put by the Democratic Alliance. "At this rate of spending the minister and deputy minister will have spent 9 million rand by the end of the financial year – up 40% from the 6.4 million rand spent in the whole of the last financial year by their predecessors," said Patricia Kopane, the DA spokesperson. .
She added that the 4.4 million rand only includes travel costs – spending incurred on road transport, air tickets and so on. "It excludes accommodation and restaurant costs, which already amount to 1.47 million rand for the first six months of the financial year," Kopane said.
The figures are limited to the amounts spent by the offices of both the minister and deputy – the amount spent by the entire department on travel comes to 21.6 million rand from 1 April until 20 October. "We have no doubt that the minister and her deputy have a very full travel itinerary," Kopane said, "but the fact is that the 40% increase in travel expenditure warrants an explanation".
"Between the minister and her deputy’s offices, about 25,000 rand is being spent on travel every single day."
Source: The Sowetan
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