Question NW3759 to the Minister of Finance

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13 December 2017 - NW3759

Profile picture: Shivambu, Mr F

Shivambu, Mr F to ask the Minister of Finance

(1)Whether (a) his department and/or (b) entities reporting to him procured services from a certain company (Travel with Flair); if so, (i) what services were procured in each case and (ii) what is the total amount that was paid to the specified company in each case; (2) whether the specified company provided services related to international travel to (a) his department and/or (b) entities reporting to him; if so, (i) what is the name of each person who travelled, (ii) what was the travel route and (iii) what is the total amount that was paid for each person?

Reply:

NATIONAL TREASURY

(1)(a) National Treasury appointed a certain company on contract for the period July 2008 to November 2010.

(1)(a)(i) The following services were procured: Air travel; Accommodation; Car rental; Chauffeuring services and Venue hire.

(1)(a)(ii)

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

Total

 

R22 914 518.12

R33 675 655.41

R32 720 835.50

R89 311 009.03

(2)(a) Yes.

(2)(a)(i- iii) The department is not in a position to provide such detail.

ASB

The Accounting Standards Board has not procured any services from Travel with Flair.

CBDA

(1) (b) Co-operative Banks Development Agency uses the service provider of National Treasury for all travel services. The service provider is WingsNaledi Travel Management.

DBSA

  1. (b) yes once in 2015
  2. For booking accommodation
  3. Total amount was for R 12,366.90
  4. (a)(b) No

(i) (ii)(iii) N/A

FSB

1. (a) Not applicable

(b) No, in respect of the Financial Services Board

2. Not applicable

FIC

(1)(b) The Financial Intelligence Centre does procure services from Travel with Flair.

(1)(b)(i) Services procured include finding appropriate flights and accommodation for official travel as per Travel Policy.

(1)(b)(ii) No payments to date as a new contract with Travel with Flair commenced on 1 November 2017. Costs for upcoming payment include:

    • Hotel accommodation R16 855
    • Airline tickets R35 496
    • Travel agent’s service fee R 3 790

(2)(b) Travel with Flair has provided services to the Financial Intelligence Centre in the form of bookings and travel arrangements for official international travel as per Travel Policy.

(2)(b)(i) Official: Ms N Mtshali.

(2)(b)(ii) Travel route: Johannesburg/Seychelles/Johannesburg.

(2)(b)(iii) Amount incurred: R47,000.00 (accommodation and travel agent’s service fee)

GEPF

The GEPF does not make use of the service provider, Travel with Flair.

GPAA

(1)(b) Yes, between 2010/11 and 2015/16, the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) procured services from Travel with Flair (i.e. Travel with Flair was the appointed service provider for all travel of GPAA officials).

(1)(b)(i) The following services with associted costs were procured from Travel with Flair for the period mentioned in response (1)(b) above:

Description

Amount (R)

   

Local Air Travel

19,416,396

Road Transport

1,477,135

Local Accommodation

40,294,735

Car Rental

7,430,749

Foreign Air Travel

120,948

Foreign Accommodation

71,981

(2) whether the specified company provided services related to international travel to (a) his department and/or (b) entities reporting to him; if so, (i) what is the name of each person who travelled, (ii) what was the travel route and (iii) what is the total amount that was paid for each person? NW4253E

Responses

(2)(b) Yes, between 2013/14 and 2015/16, the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) procured services from Travel with Flair relating to international travels of GPAA officials.

(2)(b)(i),(ii),(iii) See below for names of officials travelled overseas including routes and amount.

Name of official

Route

Amount (R)

Dr Clifford Ferguson

London, UK

32,605

Dr Clifford Ferguson

London, UK

27,237

Mr Goolam Aboobaker

London, UK

71,043

Mr Jay Morar

California, USA

33,425

Dr Sefiso Khumalo

Ottawa, Canada

28,619

IRBA

  1. (b)The IRBA has never procured services from Travel with Flair.
  1. (b)Travel with Flair has never provided the IRBA with services related to international travel.

PFA

The Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator has never made use of the services of Travel with Flair.

LAND BANK

Land Bank has not procured any services from Travel with Flair. Travel with Flair is currently not a registered vendor on the Land Bank service provider database. To date, no payments were made to Travel with Flair by Land Bank.

FAIS OMBUD

1. (a) Not applicable

(b) The FAIS Ombud has procured services from Travel with Flair. The details for the current and previous financial year are as follows:

Date

Services

Amount

June 2016

Flights and transfers for graduate trainees to attend interviews for graduate trainee programme

R58 389.29

June 2016

Flights, accommodation and transfers for annual report launch video

R10 206.94

November 2016

Flights, accommodation and transfers for graduate trainee programme to East London law school

R17 799.08

November 2016

Flights, accommodation and transfers for graduate trainee programme to Cape Town law school

R24 329.70

November 2016

Flights, accommodation and transfers for graduate trainee programme to Polokwane law school

R20 211.99

March 2017

Transport to Insurance Seminar

R1 314.10

March 2017

Transport to Credit Ombud launch

R1 434.10

June 2017

Flights and transfers for graduate trainees to attend interviews for graduate trainee programme

R16 753.98

August 2017

Flights, accommodation and transfers to Gauteng and Cape Town for annual report launch video

R21 514.70

October 2017

Flights, accommodation and transfers for attendance of FPI conference in Cape Town

R8 432.58

October 2017

Flights, accommodation and transfers for graduate trainee programme to Cape Town

R20 950.73

2. (a) Not applicable

(b) Travel with Flair did not provide any services related to international travel for the FAIS Ombud during this financial year. In the previous financial year, an order was placed with Travel with Flair for travelling to the International Ombud Schemes conference, which was held in Yerevan. This order was, however, cancelled following terror attacks at the Turkey airport, which was to be the airport where connecting flights would have been boarded.

PIC

1. The Public Investment Corporation followed a procurement process in line with its procurement policies and the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act 1 of 1999) at the beginning of 2016, where after Club Travel was appointed as service provider for the PIC. During the financial year 2016/17 to date no services were procured from Travel with Flair.

2. Rest of the question falls away.

SAA

1. Travel with Flair does not appear on SAA‘s supplier system as a supplier or having been paid for any services. The heads of division and subsidiaries have also confirmed that they have not procured any services from Travel with Flair. Accordingly, SAA has not procured any services from Travel with Flair.

2. Travel with Flair has not provided services related to international travel to SAA.

3. Travel with Flair is a travel agency and as such has a retail trade agreement with SAA, which entails that they book and ticket SAA’s passengers for commission. In essence, Travel with Flair is part of SAA’s distribution channel.

SARS

SARS does not have Travel with Flair as a vendor on its system and has not contracted any services from the said entity.

SASRIA

Sasria SOC Limited have not used Travel with Flair to procure services.

TAX OMBUD

The Office of the Tax Ombud has never procured any service from Travel with Flair.

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