Question NW372 to the Minister of Social Development
14 October 2019 - NW372
De Villiers, Mr MJ to ask the Minister of Social Development
What (a) number of official international trips is (i) she and (ii) her deputy 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:
The Minister and Deputy Minister of Social Development attend a number of international meetings carrying out various obligations representing South Africa and the carrying pout the mandate of the department. These could be bilateral or multilateral in nature, i.e. at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional level; African Union/ continental level, at a BRICS or even United Nations Level amongst others.
These meetings do not all have pre-determined dates and the Ministry responds to these based on their strategic nature towards the fulfilment of the DSD mandate and carrying out the national agenda.
The purpose of each of these meeting s also differ with the associated themes but are aligned with the mandate of the Department. The Ministry adheres to stick financial behaviour in line with the National Treasury regulations and prescripts when determining the delegations to such meetings and is thus prudent on all related costs thereto.