Cape Town - Transnet paid R155 455 to sponsor a trip of the former chairwoman of Parliament's portfolio committee on public enterprises Vytjie Mentor to China, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba on Monday.
Mentor asked Transnet to cover the costs of her trip after she was invited by the department of trade and industry to participate in President Jacob Zuma's state visit to China, Gigaba said in reply to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance.
Mentor motivated the request by saying she received the invitation on short notice, and it would have taken 14 days to obtain the necessary permission from Parliament for an international trip.
“It would therefore be obtained long after the state president's visit to China had been concluded,” he said.
Mentor received the invitation on August 19.
She also argued that taking part in the visit would “benefit her in gaining better insight and understanding relative to the exercise of her responsibilities as the chairperson of the portfolio committee... as it would allow her to engage with, amongst others, Chinese state-owned enterprises”.
The trip was funded from Transnet's sponsorship budget and the breakdown included R10 970 for one night in the Portsman Ritz Carlton Hotel in Shanghai on August 26. Her plane tickets cost a total of R137 956.
The trip landed Mentor in hot water with the ruling party.
An investigation was launched by the African National Congress after then public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan was informed that Transnet had paid for it, and she in turn informed the office of the chief whip of the party.
Hogan and Mentor have had a volatile relationship and frequently clashed while they held their former positions.
Hogan was fired when Zuma reshuffled his cabinet in late October, while Mentor was replaced as chairwoman of the committee by Peter Maluleke last month. - Sapa