DSD paid for Dlamini’s Addis Ababa trip

10 April 2017

In a response to a DA parliamentary question, the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, admitted that the Department of Social Development (DSD) footed the bill for her trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January this year.

The Minister’s trip to Addis Ababa took place at the same time the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) was launching its task team and young women’s desk in Addis Ababa.

Photographs and media reports from her trip to Addis Ababa point towards Dlamini seemingly attending events in her capacity as the Chairperson ANCWL, despite her representatives claiming that she was there on official state business.

The DA will now submit further parliamentary questions to find out how much public money was spent on this trip, considering that she might have attended to ANCWL affairs during her stay in Ethiopia.

The trip meant that Dlamini missed a crucial portfolio committee meeting in which she was supposed to give Parliament an update on the DSD and SASSAs progress in institutionalising the distribution of social grants.

When 17 million poor and vulnerable South Africans were unsure whether they would receive their social grants on time, the Minister ignored their plight in order to attend to official ANC business.

Dlamini has continuously proved that she is unfit to hold office, but the President, in his cabinet reshuffle, has proven that he awards self-serving and careless individuals, who show little remorse for the suffering of our people.

As long as Dlamini is a Minister, the DA will continue to hold her accountable for her poor performance, as it is becoming shockingly obvious that the President will not.

Issued by Bridget Masango, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, 10 April 2017