ActionSA has formally requested the Public Protector to investigate Minister Dean Macpherson’s questionable taxpayer-funded trip to Brazil with his partner over 9 days, which raises several concerns and requires scrutiny to ensure that public funds were not misused.
Following media reports over the weekend alleging that a legal warning against taking the Minister’s partner abroad was ignored, a parliamentary reply to ActionSA, signed by the Minister himself, was hastily withdrawn yesterday. The withdrawn reply failed to mention his partner’s accompaniment to Brazil, with the full cost of the trip amounting to over R1 million.
The Minister’s suspicious rush to withdraw the reply that failed to account for his partner’s taxpayer-funded travel raises serious questions about transparency, full disclosure to Parliament and whether all relevant costs were properly declared as required. The Minister has now submitted an updated reply which shows, for the first time, that his partner did in fact accompany him on the 9-day trip to Brazil.
ActionSA’s request for an investigation is intended to urgently establish the full extent of how over R1 million in public funds were spent, particularly considering several concerns that may have resulted in the misuse of taxpayer funds by the Minister and the Department, in contravention of the Ministerial Handbook and related regulations and legislation.
We have provided the Public Protector with a detailed list of concerns that warrant a full investigation, including the potential wasteful abuse of taxpayer funds for a trip whose official cost and purpose are questionable, how the Minister’s partner was allowed to accompany him at the taxpayer’s expense, and whether legal advice was ignored.
ActionSA has already exposed how GNU Ministers have blown nearly R500 million on luxury travel, with Macpherson’s Brazilian getaway being only one example of how the GNU has no regard for already struggling taxpayers and sees no issue with splurging over R1 million in 9 days on a trip that appears to have had very few official engagements, making such expenditure completely unjustified.
ActionSA will never allow GNU Ministers to squander the hard-earned taxes of South Africans on luxury travel while expecting citizens to tighten their belts. We will demand full accountability and ensure that every cent found to have been misused is paid back.
ActionSA Requests Public Protector Investigation into Dean Macpherson’s Taxpayer-Funded Trip to Brazil with Partner
ActionSA has formally requested the Public Protector to investigate Minister Dean Macpherson’s questionable taxpayer-funded trip to Brazil with his partner over 9 days, which raises several concerns and requires scrutiny to ensure that public funds were not misused.
Following media reports over the weekend alleging that a legal warning against taking the Minister’s partner abroad was ignored, a parliamentary reply to ActionSA, signed by the Minister himself, was hastily withdrawn yesterday. The withdrawn reply failed to mention his partner’s accompaniment to Brazil, with the full cost of the trip amounting to over R1 million.
The Minister’s suspicious rush to withdraw the reply that failed to account for his partner’s taxpayer-funded travel raises serious questions about transparency, full disclosure to Parliament and whether all relevant costs were properly declared as required. The Minister has now submitted an updated reply which shows, for the first time, that his partner did in fact accompany him on the 9-day trip to Brazil.
ActionSA’s request for an investigation is intended to urgently establish the full extent of how over R1 million in public funds were spent, particularly considering several concerns that may have resulted in the misuse of taxpayer funds by the Minister and the Department, in contravention of the Ministerial Handbook and related regulations and legislation.
We have provided the Public Protector with a detailed list of concerns that warrant a full investigation, including the potential wasteful abuse of taxpayer funds for a trip whose official cost and purpose are questionable, how the Minister’s partner was allowed to accompany him at the taxpayer’s expense, and whether legal advice was ignored.
ActionSA has already exposed how GNU Ministers have blown nearly R500 million on luxury travel, with Macpherson’s Brazilian getaway being only one example of how the GNU has no regard for already struggling taxpayers and sees no issue with splurging over R1 million in 9 days on a trip that appears to have had very few official engagements, making such expenditure completely unjustified.
ActionSA will never allow GNU Ministers to squander the hard-earned taxes of South Africans on luxury travel while expecting citizens to tighten their belts. We will demand full accountability and ensure that every cent found to have been misused is paid back.