Public Protector must investigate Ramaphosa’s travel gluttony while South Africans starve
12 November 2023
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be writing to Public Protector, Koleka Gcaleka, requesting a full investigation into allegations of exorbitant and wasteful expenditure for catering aboard the Inkwazi presidential jet.
On the 12-hour flight from London to South Africa alone, following the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year, it is alleged that catering came to a whopping R24 000 per head amounting to just under R600 000 in total for fewer than 18 VIP guests.
These damning allegations are made worse considering that just this week a report by investigative journalist, Estelle Ellis, was released which revealed that between August 2022 and September 2023, 1,722 cases of severe acute malnutrition in children were diagnosed in the Eastern Cape.
Of these, 101 died, as did another 13 who were diagnosed with moderate to severe acute malnutrition.