Question NW365 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
13 September 2019 - NW365
Sharif, Ms NK to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
What (a) number of official international trips is (i) he and (ii) his deputies planning to undertake in the 2019-22 medium term expenditure framework, (b) will the (i) destination, (ii) date, (iii) purpose and (iv) number of persons who will travel with the delegation be and (c) is the detailed breakdown of the expected cost of (i) flights, (ii) accommodation and (iii) any other expenses in each case?
Reply:
We wish to reply to the Honourable Member as follows:
a) The International trips for Minister are based on the requests for support from the Presidency and other key stakeholders such as the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, for essential issues of national interest related to justice and legal co-operation matters. However, the Departmental requests for international trips are based on the requirements of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD)`s Annual Performance Plan as well as fulfilling prior commitments in multilateral engagements such as the United Nations (and its Special Agencies dealing with crime prevention and criminal justice matters such as the UNODC), African Union (AU) Ministerial meetings, engagements with the UN and AU Human Rights Mechanisms. Southern African Development Community (SADC), International Criminal Court (ICC) Commonwealth, Brazil, Russia, India, Chief and South Africa (BRICS) to advance South Africa`s position on international legal matters.
b) The size of the delegation to any Departmental international trip is governed by the DoJ&CD`s Travel Policy and approved by the Director- General. The delegation for Ministry is determined in line with the Public Finance Management Act and in line with the Ministerial Handbook.
c) The flights, accommodation costs and other expenses are as per National Treasury Guidelines for the applicable job levels.
Furthermore, it is impossible to accurately state the number of trips and persons making up the delegations as invitations arise from time to time , and are dependent on budgetary considerations and personnel capacity.