Agriculture Department defends minister’s R1,5m hotel bill saying she did not have official accommodation for more than a year
CAPE TOWN — Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has become the latest Cabinet minister to be caught out staying in top hotels — to the tune of R1,5m over a two-year period, sometimes for almost a month at a time.
The news of Ms Joemat Pettersson’s spending on hotel accommodation in SA follows the recent furore over former co-operative governance minister Sicelo Shiceka spending large sums on foreign travel and luxury hotels.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found it to have been maladministration and dishonest and ordered that Mr Shiceka repay the money and that President Jacob Zuma take "serious" action.
However, Ms Madonsela cleared Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for spending R734448 at Cape Town’s Table Bay Hotel and Durban’s Hilton, saying this had happened while his official residence was being repaired between May and July 2009. There was no evidence the minister had been involved in the arrangements, the price of which the protector’s office nevertheless described as "unreasonably high".
Yesterday, in a written reply to Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Donald Lee’s parliamentary question, Ms Joemat-Pettersson said she had stayed in hotels in SA 106 times between April 2009 and May this year. Most notable of the stays is one listed as "Pure Toys One CC" in Johannesburg between June 13 and July 11 last year, a period of 28 days, costing R420000 for "bed and meals" while on "official business".
Ms Joemat-Pettersson spent even longer in the Vineyard Hotel and Spa, a four-star Cape Town hotel. She was there from June 16 to July 21 2009 (35 days) and spent R134735 on bed and meals.
Bed and meals between September 16 and October 21 2009 at the Peermont D’oreale Grande Emperors Palace cost the taxpayer R289352.
Many stays were at the Intercontinental at OR Tambo International Airport, only a short drive from Pretoria, where the minister has an official residence. Some of the hotel stays were in Pretoria itself, or in Cape Town, where the minister also has an official residence.
Mr Lee said this was "a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money" and that as Ms Joemat-Pettersson was supposed to have official residences, "why is she not staying in them; does she have shares in these hotels?"
His colleague, agriculture spokesman Lourie Bosman, said he would ask further questions to establish why official residences were not used. "Minister Joemat- Pettersson’s hotel bill is unjustifiable in a country where millions of South Africans live in poverty and do not have access to proper housing." The agriculture ministry said the DA was "grandstanding" and that the minister was appointed in May 2009 but did not have official accommodation for more than a year. The house allocated to her in Cape Town was substandard and had many chronic defects. While it was undergoing renovation, Ms Joemat-Pettersson had to be accommodated at a hotel to allow her to perform her official duties, the ministry said.
"Similarly, with the Pretoria residence, Joemat-Pettersson had to make use of hotel accommodation as the department responsible for allocating her official accommodation had not done so for over a year. Consequently, the minister had to use alternative accommodation in accordance with the rules governing the official accommodation of ministers. (She) has been occupying the official residences in Cape Town and Pretoria since August 2010."
- Businessday
CAPE TOWN — Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has become the latest Cabinet minister to be caught out staying in top hotels — to the tune of R1,5m over a two-year period, sometimes for almost a month at a time.
The news of Ms Joemat Pettersson’s spending on hotel accommodation in SA follows the recent furore over former co-operative governance minister Sicelo Shiceka spending large sums on foreign travel and luxury hotels.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found it to have been maladministration and dishonest and ordered that Mr Shiceka repay the money and that President Jacob Zuma take "serious" action.
However, Ms Madonsela cleared Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for spending R734448 at Cape Town’s Table Bay Hotel and Durban’s Hilton, saying this had happened while his official residence was being repaired between May and July 2009. There was no evidence the minister had been involved in the arrangements, the price of which the protector’s office nevertheless described as "unreasonably high".
Yesterday, in a written reply to Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Donald Lee’s parliamentary question, Ms Joemat-Pettersson said she had stayed in hotels in SA 106 times between April 2009 and May this year. Most notable of the stays is one listed as "Pure Toys One CC" in Johannesburg between June 13 and July 11 last year, a period of 28 days, costing R420000 for "bed and meals" while on "official business".
Ms Joemat-Pettersson spent even longer in the Vineyard Hotel and Spa, a four-star Cape Town hotel. She was there from June 16 to July 21 2009 (35 days) and spent R134735 on bed and meals.
Bed and meals between September 16 and October 21 2009 at the Peermont D’oreale Grande Emperors Palace cost the taxpayer R289352.
Many stays were at the Intercontinental at OR Tambo International Airport, only a short drive from Pretoria, where the minister has an official residence. Some of the hotel stays were in Pretoria itself, or in Cape Town, where the minister also has an official residence.
Mr Lee said this was "a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money" and that as Ms Joemat-Pettersson was supposed to have official residences, "why is she not staying in them; does she have shares in these hotels?"
His colleague, agriculture spokesman Lourie Bosman, said he would ask further questions to establish why official residences were not used. "Minister Joemat- Pettersson’s hotel bill is unjustifiable in a country where millions of South Africans live in poverty and do not have access to proper housing." The agriculture ministry said the DA was "grandstanding" and that the minister was appointed in May 2009 but did not have official accommodation for more than a year. The house allocated to her in Cape Town was substandard and had many chronic defects. While it was undergoing renovation, Ms Joemat-Pettersson had to be accommodated at a hotel to allow her to perform her official duties, the ministry said.
"Similarly, with the Pretoria residence, Joemat-Pettersson had to make use of hotel accommodation as the department responsible for allocating her official accommodation had not done so for over a year. Consequently, the minister had to use alternative accommodation in accordance with the rules governing the official accommodation of ministers. (She) has been occupying the official residences in Cape Town and Pretoria since August 2010."
- Businessday
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