Four cabinet ministers have flatly refused to answer parliamentary questions from the opposition about how much they and their deputies have spent on hotels and guest houses since April 2009, saying disclosure would compromise their security.
This has led the DA to appeal to National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu to “compel” the ministers to provide the information.
Section 116 of the Rules of the National Assembly requires ministers to answer written parliamentary questions within 10 working days. It also limits MPs’ questions to to three a week.
The DA has posed the same question in recent months to each ministry, asking for the number and location of hotels and guest houses at which ministers and deputies have stayed, the costs involved, the purpose of the visits, and the star grading of each establishment.
Of the 11 ministries that have responded, six provided the information requested – some in great detail, others as a single total.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe asked for more time to gather the information. Four ministers refused.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant and Minister of Co-operative Governance Richard Baloyi, who was formerly public service minister, cited “security concerns” as a reason for not divulging their hotel costs.
Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the information “does not add any further value to the information (previously) provided” and “that the members indeed stay at hotels and guest houses as part of the execution of their duties”.
Oliphant said, for “security reasons”, she could not “divulge information about where I have stayed”. Instead, she would pass the information to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is the leader of government business in Parliament.
Peters said revealing details of the hotels and guest houses at which she had stayed would “compromise the personal security of the deputy minister and myself”.
Ena van Schalkwyk, DA MP, said on Monday that her party was “determined” to find out how much public money ministers and their deputies spent “staying at luxury hotels”.
“But it is apparent that the government is equally determined to stop us,” she said.
Ministers who refused to answer parliamentary questions – “no matter how embarrassing the answers” – were “violating their obligation to transparency and accountability”, she said.
“Citing security concerns is obviously bogus.
“There is no way that revealing the cost of expenditure on luxury accommodation could compromise a minister’s security.
“We don’t want to know where ministers are staying tomorrow, we want to know what they spent on hotels in the past.”
The DA MP said she would write to the Speaker to compel the ministers to answer the question.
“It is a reasonable question that demands a reasonable answer,” said Van Schalkwyk.
Max Sisulu’s spokeswoman, Sukhthi Naidoo, said she could not comment as the Speaker had yet to receive the DA’s letter.
Failure by members of the executive to answer parliamentary questions, to answer them on time or to provide the requested information in their replies has long been a source of tension between ministers and opposition party MPs.
In mid-August, replies to 468 written parliamentary questions – nearly one quarter of all questions posed – were overdue.
Lindiwe Sisulu’s spokesman, Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya, said the minister had not provided the information requested because similar details had been given to the DA in a previous parliamentary response.
Mabaya said he would provide a copy of this response on Tuesday.
“It’s like asking us about information that is in the department’s annual report,” he said.
“Then we are going to refer you to the annual report. That is why we are saying that the information we have provided is enough.”
Independent Newspapers can confirm that the Defence Department’s annual report for 2010/11 does not contain information about ministerial accommodation expenses.
Pressed to explain further, Mabaya said he wanted to make the point that ministers, in the normal course of their duties, were often required to sleep in hotels and drive rented cars.
“And this needs to be understood, because there is an impression created that ministers cry to sleep in hotels. No, it’s part of their job,” he said.
- Political Bureau
This has led the DA to appeal to National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu to “compel” the ministers to provide the information.
Section 116 of the Rules of the National Assembly requires ministers to answer written parliamentary questions within 10 working days. It also limits MPs’ questions to to three a week.
The DA has posed the same question in recent months to each ministry, asking for the number and location of hotels and guest houses at which ministers and deputies have stayed, the costs involved, the purpose of the visits, and the star grading of each establishment.
Of the 11 ministries that have responded, six provided the information requested – some in great detail, others as a single total.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe asked for more time to gather the information. Four ministers refused.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant and Minister of Co-operative Governance Richard Baloyi, who was formerly public service minister, cited “security concerns” as a reason for not divulging their hotel costs.
Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the information “does not add any further value to the information (previously) provided” and “that the members indeed stay at hotels and guest houses as part of the execution of their duties”.
Oliphant said, for “security reasons”, she could not “divulge information about where I have stayed”. Instead, she would pass the information to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is the leader of government business in Parliament.
Peters said revealing details of the hotels and guest houses at which she had stayed would “compromise the personal security of the deputy minister and myself”.
Ena van Schalkwyk, DA MP, said on Monday that her party was “determined” to find out how much public money ministers and their deputies spent “staying at luxury hotels”.
“But it is apparent that the government is equally determined to stop us,” she said.
Ministers who refused to answer parliamentary questions – “no matter how embarrassing the answers” – were “violating their obligation to transparency and accountability”, she said.
“Citing security concerns is obviously bogus.
“There is no way that revealing the cost of expenditure on luxury accommodation could compromise a minister’s security.
“We don’t want to know where ministers are staying tomorrow, we want to know what they spent on hotels in the past.”
The DA MP said she would write to the Speaker to compel the ministers to answer the question.
“It is a reasonable question that demands a reasonable answer,” said Van Schalkwyk.
Max Sisulu’s spokeswoman, Sukhthi Naidoo, said she could not comment as the Speaker had yet to receive the DA’s letter.
Failure by members of the executive to answer parliamentary questions, to answer them on time or to provide the requested information in their replies has long been a source of tension between ministers and opposition party MPs.
In mid-August, replies to 468 written parliamentary questions – nearly one quarter of all questions posed – were overdue.
Lindiwe Sisulu’s spokesman, Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya, said the minister had not provided the information requested because similar details had been given to the DA in a previous parliamentary response.
Mabaya said he would provide a copy of this response on Tuesday.
“It’s like asking us about information that is in the department’s annual report,” he said.
“Then we are going to refer you to the annual report. That is why we are saying that the information we have provided is enough.”
Independent Newspapers can confirm that the Defence Department’s annual report for 2010/11 does not contain information about ministerial accommodation expenses.
Pressed to explain further, Mabaya said he wanted to make the point that ministers, in the normal course of their duties, were often required to sleep in hotels and drive rented cars.
“And this needs to be understood, because there is an impression created that ministers cry to sleep in hotels. No, it’s part of their job,” he said.
- Political Bureau
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