Parliament Continuously Reviews Travel and Other Policies to Limit Negative Unintended Consequences

Members of Parliament (MPs) come from all parts of the country and are allocated constituencies across the length and breadth of South Africa.

Some of these constituencies are in remote areas, far from an airport, and many are in provinces other than the Western Cape - where the Houses of Parliament are located in Cape Town and where MPs are required to be present to carry out Parliament's Constitutional function of law-making.

To enable them to carry out Parliament's law-making, public participation and oversight functions, MPs are allocated certain facilities, including travel.

According to Parliament's current rules on travel, agreed to by multi-party structures in Parliament, MPs are entitled to 86 single domestic airline journeys per financial year, at the expense of Parliament.

These air journeys may be offset or exchanged for travel by road, train or bus.

In the case of journeys by motor vehicle, MPs are reimbursed for the full cost of the journey via the shortest route, at the higher Automobile Association rate or the government rate per kilometre. The distance for which claims are lodged cannot exceed the distance between Cape Town and an MP's registered home or constituency base.

Claims for such motor vehicle journeys must be accompanied by acceptable proof of the journey (for example, petrol slips, tollgate slips or proof of other expenditure related to the journey). Motor vehicle journeys that are longer than 800 km between an MP's registered home or constituency base and Cape Town entitles that MP to overnight accommodation of not more than R1 150 a night, including dinner, bed and breakfast. MPs are reimbursed for actual accommodation costs incurred up to the limit of R1 150 a night, including dinner, bed and breakfast.

Comparing the costs of motor vehicle journeys with air travel journeys (see here) is not entirely an accurate comparison because even if MPs travel by air, Parliament pays the costs of their transport to and from airports.

These provisions are under continuous review by Parliament's various multi-party governance structures, as are other rules governing facilities for MPs.

Examples of forums where concerns about the application of current rules concerning facilities may be raised include the multi-party Chief Whips' Forum, the multi-party Rules Committee and the multi-party Parliamentary Oversight Authority.

The fourth Parliament has been in operation since May 2009 and has a number of issues on its agenda, including internal governance matters that could not be finalised during the third Parliament.

Statement issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services, January 22 2010

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