By Jeremy Gordin and Angela Quintal
The cost of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's trip to Abu Dhabi was not much when considering the economic needs of the underprivileged in South Africa.
This was stated on Tuesday by Presidency spokesperson Murphy Morobe, who added that, as a result of the furore surrounding the December 27-31 trip to the United Arab Emirates, the rules governing such trips would be reviewed.
He explained at the Union Buildings in Pretoria that the issue of Mlambo-Ngcuka's trip, which cost R700 000, had come up just before the municipal elections and that "those who know (Mlambo-Ngcuka), know she is a very sensitive person".
"She obviously would be concerned, especially when (people) seek to counterpose the cost of the visit against the needs of people out there... R700 000 is going to be a drop in the ocean when you try to address those needs."
A press conference had been called to clarify matters relating to the visit, and "hopefully", in the words of Thabo Masebe, the deputy head of the Government Communication and Information System, "to put the matter to rest".
Mlambo-Ngcuka, who did not attend the press briefing, quipped at the opening of a National Youth Commission workshop on the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (ASGI) in Benoni on Tuesday: "I don't want to say too much. Everything that you say will be used against you."
Morobe confirmed that Thuthukile Mazibuko-Skweyiya, a friend of Mlambo-Ngcuka's and wife of Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya; Mlambo-Ngcuka's husband, Bulelani; and their two children and two children of one of the deputy president's personal assistants had gone on holiday on an SA Air Force Falcon 900 jet.
Morobe said the deputy president was fully entitled to take along a friend, if she chose to do so; that Mlambo-Ngcuka had not infringed any law or regulation; that "Mazibuko-Skweyiya (contributes) on a voluntary basis to the development of a programme within ASGI-South Africa for the development of project management skills ... on the empowerment of women"; and that the empowerment of women in the field of "large infrastructure projects" was a field close to the deputy president's heart.
This was why, although the deputy president had definitely been on holiday, she had looked into such matters and even attended an exhibition on infrastructure development.
Morobe said the deputy president would not act extravagantly because she was sensitive to South Africans' plight. Morobe said that neither Bulelani Ngcuka nor Mazibuko-Skweyiya had gone to the UAE to further business interests of their own - Mazibuko-Skweyiya was a friend, and Ngcuka was accompanying his spouse on holiday.
Mazibuko-Skweyiya made headlines last year after the Mail & Guardian reported, as part of its Oilgate expose, that in addition to R11-million paid to the ANC from money advanced from state oil company PetroSA, Imvume Management head Sandi Majali also paid R65 000 to Hartkon, a company that renovated Skweyiya's home.
The payment was made on the same day a R50 000 cheque was paid to Bonga Mlambo, the deputy president's brother.
Morobe also confirmed that the deputy president had taken her personal assistant's children because this was the "human" thing to do during the holiday period. The Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus have separately referred the matter of Mlambo-Ngcuka's trip to Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana.
The SA Communist Party said it realised the deputy president should at all times be under protection, but "this should be done within the framework of some guidelines in which costs are minimised".
And Cosatu said there could be no justification for anyone to have free holidays at taxpayers' expense - more so with millions of South Africans living in poverty.