Mbalula 'basically paid for' Dubai trip - spokesperson
9 October 2017
Johannesburg - Claims that Police Minister Fikile Mbalula's family holiday to Dubai last year were partly paid for by a sporting goods company are not true, his spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga says.
"It was a private trip. He basically paid for it," Mhaga said after EWN reported that a company that supplies sports uniforms paid for part of the trip taken between December 2016 and January 2017 when Mbalula was minister of sport.
According to EWN, Sedgars Sport paid for at least half of the R680 000 trip. The report claimed that two payments were made from a bank account linked to Reimon Uniforms.
The first payment was R200 000 and another payment of R100 000 was made to a Johannesburg-based travel agency Munlin Travel.
Yusuf Dockrat from Sedgars Sport told News24: ''I have absolutely no comment.''
Mhaga said it has been claimed that he paid for the trip in February, which did not make sense.
''Why would he go on holiday in December and pay for it in February?"
Mhaga said he would issue a comprehensive statement later.
Sedgars reportedly supplied the formal clothing worn by South Africa's Olympic athletes and officials to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
EWN said Mbalula and his children left Johannesburg on December 28, 2016 and returned on January 3, 2017.
