Fihla group’s US trip cost city almost R500 000
[caption id="attachment_98368" align="alignright" width="300"] Ben Fihla[/caption]
LARGE sums of money spent on flights booked through travel agencies and hotel costs that are almost three times the government limit have sparked concern over Nelson Mandela Bay municipal officials’ massive travel bill.
It was also revealed in mayor Danny Jordaan’s report to the council that it cost the municipality an estimated R220 000 just for flights to Washington DC for his predecessor, Ben Fihla, and five others.
The tickets for two of the six who attended the Rainbow Push Coalition Conference cost R70 000 each, while those for the rest cost R20 000 each.
The trip to Washington DC and New York in January cost a total of about R466 864.
According to the council agenda, they attended the 18th Annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit in New York and had discussions with the SA Embassy in Washington DC about the proposed Nelson Mandela monument for the Bay. At last Wednesday’s council meeting, budget and treasury portfolio head councillor Rory Riordan said the council had to look into its travel policy and find cheaper ways to travel.
“We have to improve our policy on how to travel,” he said.
“For instance, I have to catch a flight later to Johannesburg, which cost about R5 000 for a ticket through an agency, whereas it would have been much less if I purchased a ticket from Kulula or Mango.”
Meanwhile, Jordaan withdrew a few reports from the council agenda which pertained to outof-town travel and accommodation, saying some of the information had to be verified or he needed more clarity.
One of the items was a trip by former deputy mayor Chippa Ngcolomba and his strategic adviser, Likhaya Ngqezana, to Cape Town for two days in February.
According to the report, Ngcolomba and Ngqezana had meetings with the chief executive of the Film and Publications Board as well as Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to brief her on the municipality’s strategies on housing delivery.
The accommodation cost for the two was R3 200 a person per night, amounting to R12 800 for the two nights.
This flies in the face of costcontainment measures adopted by the council last year, which put stricter controls in place to limit catering at meetings and halt abusing the use of hired vehicles, domestic flights, fancy accommodation and overtime, as well as the use of consultants. The national Treasury set the limit for accommodation at R1 300 per person per night.
-Rochelle de Kock
