The high court in Pretoria is set to hear arguments in civil rights group AfriForum’s bid to force the executive to reveal the so-called “presidential handbook” governing Presidency members’ expensive private holidays at taxpayer’s expense.
The legal battle started in December 2012 when the then deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe splashed R2-million on a private holiday in the Seychelles at the taxpayer’s expense.
This happened just after Motlanthe lost the African National Congress (ANC) leadership race against President Jacob Zuma in the party’s Mangaung elective congress.
Motlanthe came under fire after it emerged that he‚ his partner and several state bodyguards spent nearly two weeks at the luxury Desroches Island Resort.
It was reported that Motlanthe paid for the accommodation and his personal expenses‚ but that the state paid for transport and security costs.
Motlanthe was reportedly flown to the Seychelles by the South African Air Force three days after the ANC’s Manguang conference.
The following year‚ Zuma spent R1.6-million of taxpayers’ money on a trip to Mozambique’s Bazaruto Island‚ with the Falcon 900 and two Oryx helicopters making 36 flights to ferry Zuma there and back.
This emerged from answers provided by the defence ministry to written questions by Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier. Zuma took the break on Bazaruto after his doctors advised him to rest.
When AfriForum raised the issue‚ then presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj explained at the time that the so-called “presidential handbook” authorised expensive holidays for members of the Presidency at government’s expense.
However‚ when AfriForum requested a copy of the handbook in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act‚ the group’s legal advisor Willie Spies said their request was denied because the handbook and procedures apparently formed part of confidential cabinet records.
“The presidency has since admitted that such a handbook never existed and now undertakes to release it eventually‚ albeit 21 years too late‚” he said.
Spies said while uncertainty still exists over these rules‚ expensive holidays at the taxpayer’s expense continue. The matter has been set down for Thursday and Friday.
AfriForum in court over so-called ‘presidential handbook’
The legal battle started in December 2012 when the then deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe splashed R2-million on a private holiday in the Seychelles at the taxpayer’s expense.
This happened just after Motlanthe lost the African National Congress (ANC) leadership race against President Jacob Zuma in the party’s Mangaung elective congress.
Motlanthe came under fire after it emerged that he‚ his partner and several state bodyguards spent nearly two weeks at the luxury Desroches Island Resort.
It was reported that Motlanthe paid for the accommodation and his personal expenses‚ but that the state paid for transport and security costs.
Motlanthe was reportedly flown to the Seychelles by the South African Air Force three days after the ANC’s Manguang conference.
The following year‚ Zuma spent R1.6-million of taxpayers’ money on a trip to Mozambique’s Bazaruto Island‚ with the Falcon 900 and two Oryx helicopters making 36 flights to ferry Zuma there and back.
This emerged from answers provided by the defence ministry to written questions by Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier. Zuma took the break on Bazaruto after his doctors advised him to rest.
When AfriForum raised the issue‚ then presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj explained at the time that the so-called “presidential handbook” authorised expensive holidays for members of the Presidency at government’s expense.
However‚ when AfriForum requested a copy of the handbook in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act‚ the group’s legal advisor Willie Spies said their request was denied because the handbook and procedures apparently formed part of confidential cabinet records.
“The presidency has since admitted that such a handbook never existed and now undertakes to release it eventually‚ albeit 21 years too late‚” he said.
Spies said while uncertainty still exists over these rules‚ expensive holidays at the taxpayer’s expense continue. The matter has been set down for Thursday and Friday.
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