Joemat-Pettersson guilty of violating ethics code
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President Jacob Zuma should consider reprimanding Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson for violating the executive ethics code, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Monday.
Madonsela said the department's acting director-general should recover about R150,000 Joemat-Pettersson unlawfully incurred for return flights of her two children and their au pair from Sweden to South Africa in January 2010.
The minister travelled to Sweden in December 2009 on official business where she held meetings on matters relevant to her portfolio.
The trip was combined with a family holiday, which started at the end of the official trip on December 23.
Joemat-Pettersson, however, had to cut the holiday short when she was recalled by the Presidency and returned on January 1, 2010.
“The return trips of the minister's children and au pair were paid for by the state in violation of the provisions of paragraph 3.4 of Chapter 6 of the Ministerial Handbook, in the amount of R151 878,” Madonsela found in her report.
The Public Protector also investigated whether the minister used public funds in occupying expensive accommodation at hotels while she was awaiting the allocation of her official residences in Cape Town and Pretoria.
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Posted 174 days agoLoggenberg
nghunghunyane
Posted 174 days agodonorfatigued
skhokho21
Posted 174 days agoamaKK
Besides, R150,000 for 2 kids and an au pair? That means they were probably flying first class.
Why the %$^# should we pay for someone else's breeding?
buddi
i_stub_born
skhokho21
Its the same for the companies you work for, if they want you urgently while you are out on holiday with your family, they must pay you for your holiday, pay for your whole family back home.
rahima
buddi
Posted 174 days agoSasha*-Fierce
Posted 174 days agoJohnBradfield
Sasha*-Fierce
Look at all ANCWL Cadres and compared them with Lindiwe, Joemat and Maite! They are almost there but not yet Beyonce Knowles or Robin Townsand!
RSA.MommaCyndi
Posted 174 days agoskhokho21
Maybe I was a bit out of line to make it sound like 152k was peanuts but I was talking from the ministers point of views package, that money is a return trip and accomodation. She was called to come back on short notice, all airlines charge high prices when you book late, also consider the price of a rand compared to the EURO.
Loggenberg
----------
That minister you're talking about is a shareholder on 18 companies ( she declared to Parliament in 2010). Why can't she use the credit card of one of the companies she co-owns?
RSA.MommaCyndi
Not really. I've had it before where I had to change my ticket over December and they did charge me a fee but it wasn't anywhere close to that amount! If I remember rightly, it was about 50 Euros (which I felt was excessive at the time).
SuiGeneris
Dead giveaway of IQ
Sasha*-Fierce
Morons cannot see themselves! Indeed you are right! If we are morons than you must be worse than the word moron! I am just referring to the word ''moron'' and nothing else!
rahima
Out of line. ... Out of mind. You must be from OBE.
Thuka-Thuka
v_3
Posted 174 days agoShe did more than merely violate a code. She stole money from the state.
She must be charged - with no NPA dancing to the kleptocracy's tune.
rahima
Black-Moses
Posted 174 days agoJohnBradfield
Posted 174 days agoduffster
Posted 174 days agoSimple... her kids and her au pair are not employees of the state and the state should not be paying for them. What is the point of giving her a not unsubstantial salary if she is not going to use it to fund her personal activities, and the personal activities of her kids and employees?
Should she rather just have a credit card linked to the Treasury's (ie taxpayers) funds for her to use whenever she pleases?
rahima
donorfatigued
Posted 174 days agoBy the simple law of averages one would assume that sometimes they would actually end up with a competent and honest person, but no - this seems never to happen.
Some other factor must be at work here, skewing the results - wonder what it could be?
rahima
This is Africa. Assume nothing. The worst will happen. That is direct from the ancestors.