Zuma conceals cost of Russian trips
09 December 2014
President Zuma has today blatantly refused to answer a question on the cost of his recent trips to Russia.
In a reply to a written question I asked about the cost of his trips to Russia, President Zuma simply states that "Costs related to the visits would be included in The Presidency's budgets for the respective years." This is utter nonsense and a purposefully deceitful answer for two reasons:
1. When a member of Parliament asks for information that the Presidency already has at its disposal, it must answer immediately. It cannot wave away the answers to some future report that may or may not include the information.
2. The answer is also unacceptable given that the Presidency's budget does not include detailed information as requested in my question. It only provides figures for all travel expenditure. That is not the point, and the President knows it. We want to know what the state paid for him to go have secret negotiations with the Russians. The Presidency's budget will not include this information.