Mgidlana must account for extravagant Eurotrip

24 April 2014

Reports this morning indicate that the Secretary of Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana and other senior officials spent an outrageous R2 million on a two-week ‘benchmarking exercise’ across Europe.

This is a disgusting appropriation of public funds and Mr Mgidlana and his office must account for it. I will request that the newly-established Joint Standing Committee on Financial Management of Parliament summon Mr Mgidlana and have him provide a full report on his office’s ‘Eurotrip’.

According to the City Press, Mr Mgidlana and his delegation spent R177 350 on just three nights of accommodation in London, R65 000 on car rental across England and Scotland. The paper also suggests that procurement procedures were also violated in the processes (see here).

In July last year Mr Mgidlana admitted to the press that he had been using a Parliament vehicle fitted with blue lights to ferry his family around Cape Town, a vehicle that cost Parliament R10 800 to repair after a crash.

Repeatedly Mr Mgidlana has proven himself to be more interested in widening his waistline and pockets, than ensuring that Parliament responsibly executes its mandate. 

Parliament is currently debating government budgets, yet under Mr Mgidlana the institution refuses to set an example for the departments and entities that report to it.

This instance is just another in a questionable string that clearly illustrate that Parliament needs a standing committee to oversee its enormous budget.

The DA believes Parliament has a duty to combat corruption not create it, and Mr Mgidlana must be held to account.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 24 April 2016