Parly's R23 000 hotel claim causes a stir

Parliament has been slammed for justifying the travel expenses of its secretary Gengezi Mgidlana and arguing that a hotel in Europe could cost R23000 due to the exchange rate.

It is incorrect and “grossly insulting”, said DA chief whip John Steenhuisen, while his United Democratic Movement counterpart Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said Parliament was defending the indefensible with “unadulterated claptrap”.

Both parties plan to get Mgidlana and the Speaker Baleka Mbete to account to Parliament and give a “line-by-line breakdown of his travel costs and also to put pressure on the accounting officers to curb expenses. 

The two chief whips were responding to the defence of the secretary on the official parliamentary Twitter account following an exposé in City Press yesterday that revealed Mgidlana spent R44 320 on being chauffeur-driven in a Mercedes-Benz on a “study visit” in Budapest in July. An extra R1020 was incurred for a taxi trip to the airport.

Mgidlana has been criticised previously for lavish travel expenses, with an earlier report revealing he and senior parliamentary staff spent almost R2 million in “benchmarking” trips, flying business class and staying in five-star hotels in the UK and Turkey. While in London, Mgidlana stayed in a R14 050-per-night (R42 150 for three nights) room at the luxurious Conrad London St James Hotel. He has also incurred a bill of R52 638 for six nights at the Michelango Hotel in Sandton earlier this year, according to the City Press report.

Steenhuisen said even if the expenses fell in line with guidelines – which could not be ascertained as the handbook was unavailable – it was still unacceptable.

“This is especially so in a time of austerity and cost-cutting, with no salary increases this year for MPs and judges”.

Steenhuisen said Mgidlana was not an elected office bearer, but an administrative bureaucrat, and he questioned the motivation behind his frequent travel trips.
Kwankwa said expenditures across all government departments had been cut in terms of belt-tightening instructions from Treasury, and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was leading by example by flying economy class on some of his trips. 

“The executive authority – which is the chair of the NCOP and Speaker of the National Assembly – have to rein in Mgidlana,” said Kwankwa.
Parliament took to Twitter last night to defend the secretary, referring to the impact of the Rand-Pound exchange rate that “any South African gets subjected to when visiting London or other European countries”.

It said, for example, “a basic hotel accommodation services which costs R13 000 for bed-and-breakfast for every civil servant in South Africa, could cost about R23 000 a day in London”. 

Parliament’s comments prompted a backlash, with users tweeting hotel booking sites in London with price listings for five-star hotels that were a fraction of R23 000. For instance, the London Marriott was R6500, the Savoy R8430 and the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park R11 587. 

Parliament said the City Press report “ignores facts and selectively portrays costs of the official trips to international partners of Parliament as very high”.

It said the polices were clear with regard to transport and accommodation services for the Secretary to Parliament. All costs – including the chauffer services – were in line with policies and regulations.

It said that negative media reports would not “derail” efforts to remodel and reposition Parliament’s administration.