Question NW1823 to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
06 July 2018 - NW1823
Gqada, Ms T to ask the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
(1)Whether (a) her spouse and/or (b) an adult family member accompanied her on any official international trip (i) in each of the past five financial years and (ii) since 1 April 2018; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what (aa) is the name of the person(s), (bb) was the (aaa) purpose and (bbb) destination of the trip and (cc) was the (aaa) total cost and (bbb) detailed breakdown of the costs of the accompanying person(s) to her department; (2) whether each of the specified trips were approved by the President in terms of the provisions of Section 1, Annexure A of the Ministerial Handbook; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) (i) Yes, I have been advised that my predecessor was accompanied by a family member between 22 September 2013 and 26 February 2018. This was done in accordance with the Ministerial Handbook: Handbook for Members of the Executive and Presiding Officers. Section 3.1 and 3.2 of the Ministerial Handbook state that, “Members (of the Executive) and their spouses (or an adult family member accompanying the Member in official capacity) are entitled to first class travel for official purposes at the expense of the Department concerned. The costs for official journeys abroad by Members, and their spouses or adult family members accompanying them in official capacity, are for the account of the relevant Department”.
(aa) With respect to the request to provide names, the Honourable Member would recall that there is an established practise applicable to parliamentary questions contained in the document titled, “Guide to Parliamentary Questions in the National Assembly. The document referred to prohibits Members of Parliament, including the Executive, from divulging names of persons, bodies when asking or responding to parliamentary questions. It specifically states the following:
“Questions are to be framed as concisely as possible. All unnecessary adjectives, references and quotations are omitted. Names of persons, bodies and, for example, newspapers are only used in questions if the facts surrounding the case have been proven. As the mere mention of such names could be construed as publicity for or against them, it should be clear that this practice is highly undesirable. If a question will be unintelligible without mentioning such names, the Departments concerned are notified of the name (-s) and this phrase is used: ".......a certain person (name furnished)”
(bb) The information requested by the Honourable Member is provide in the table below:
|
COUNTRIES VISITED |
PURPOSE OF VISIT |
DATE OF VISIT |
ADULT FAMILY MEMBER |
AIR TRAVEL COST |
S & T |
|
|
New York, USA |
UNGA |
22-28 September 2013 |
Adult family member |
R 235,292 |
R 12,089 |
|
|
Jakarta, Indonesia |
2nd Conference among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Dev. (CEAPAD II) |
27 Feb - 2 Mar 2014 |
Adult family member |
R 311,258 |
R 15,334 |
|
|
London, UK |
Attended Thanksgiving service in honour of late former President Mandela |
2-3 Mar 2014 |
Adult family member |
Cost included in (2) above |
S&T included in (2) above |
|
|
Geneva, Switzerland |
High Level Segment of the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council |
3-6 Mar 2014 |
Adult family member |
Cost included in (2) above |
S&T included in (2) above |
|
|
Santiago, Chile |
Inauguration of President-elect |
7-12 Mar 2014 |
Adult family member |
Cost included in (2) above |
S&T included in (2) above |
|
|
Washington, USA |
AGOA Ministerial Meeting |
2-6 August 2014 |
Adult family member |
R 83,828 |
R 7,140.25 |
|
|
Beijing, China |
SA/China JWG Meeting |
1-5 September 2014 |
Adult family member |
R 39,847 |
R 5,860 |
|
|
New York, USA |
UNGA |
19-27 September 2014 |
Adult family member |
R 83,824 |
R 12,293 |
|
|
Beijing, China |
Accompanied President Zuma on working visit |
1-6 December 2014 |
Adult family member |
R 39,925 |
R 7,325 |
|
|
Brasilia, Brazil |
Inauguration of President-elect of Brazil |
28 Dec - 4 Jan 2015 |
Adult family member |
R 64,690 |
R 8,220 |
|
|
Jakarta, Indonesia |
Accompany President Zuma to State Visit and NAASP and Bandung Asia-Africa Summit |
18-23 April 2015 |
Adult family member |
R 56,970 |
R 7,971.00 |
|
|
Ufa, Russia |
7th BRICS Summit |
5-11 July 2015 |
Adult family member |
R 92,312 |
R 18,722 |
|
|
Gaborone, Botswana |
SADC Council of Ministers meeting and summit |
13-15 August 2015 |
Adult family member |
R 5,479 |
R 1,850.00 |
|
|
New York, USA |
UNGA |
14-29 September 2015 |
Adult family member |
R 89,350 |
R 26,945 |
|
|
New York, USA |
Accompany President Zuma to UNGA |
19-23 September 2016 |
Adult family member |
R 71,930 |
R 7,185 |
|
|
Munich, Germany |
Working Visit |
14-15 November 2016 |
Adult family member |
R 110,467 |
R 6,275 |
|
|
Berlin, Germany |
SA-Germany BNC |
15-16 November 2016 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (16) above |
Continuous trip from (16) above |
|
|
Lilongwe, Malawi |
Inauguration of new SA Chancery |
09-May-17 |
Adult family member |
Chartered flight with Minister |
R 3,699 |
|
|
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania |
Accompany President JG Zuma on a State Visit |
10-12 May 2017 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (18) above |
Continuous trip from (18) above |
|
|
Beijing, China |
BRICS Foreign Minister's meeting |
16-21 June 2017 |
Adult family member |
R 78,356 |
R 7,320 |
|
|
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union |
3-4 July 2017 |
Adult family member |
R 123,542 |
R 8,211 |
|
|
Hamburg, Germany |
G20 |
5-9 July 2017 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (21) above |
Continuous trip from (21) above |
|
|
Xiamen, China |
9th BRICS Summit |
31 August - 5 Sept 2017 |
Adult family member |
R 104,820 |
R 12,033 |
|
|
Hanoi, Vietnam |
Asia Regional Heads of Mission Conference |
5-9 Sept 2017 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (23) above |
Continuous trip from (23) above |
|
|
Ottawa, Canada |
Americas Regional Heads of Mission Conference |
12-15 Sept 2017 |
Adult family member |
R 55,103 |
R 19,640 |
|
|
New York, USA |
UNGA 72 |
15-23 Sept 2017 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (25) above |
Continuous trip from (25) above |
|
|
Nairobi, Kenya |
Represented President Zuma at the inauguration of the President-elect of Kenya |
27-28 Nov 2017 |
Adult family member |
Chartered flight with Minister |
R 4,281 |
|
|
Abidjan, Ivory Coast |
Attended the Africa-EU Foreign Minister's meeting Accompanied President Zuma to the Africa-EU Summit |
28 Nov 2017 29 to 30 Nov 2017 |
Adult family member |
Continuous trip from (27) above |
Continuous trip from (27) above |
(ii) Since my appointment as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and between 27 February 2018 and 4 July 2018 I have not taken a family member on any official trip abroad.
(2) Yes, I have been informed that permission from the President was sought in terms of Annexure A of the Ministerial Handbook.