Only the best will do for Pan-African Parliament head, at a hefty cost to SA

20 May 2018 - 00:00 By MZILIKAZI wa AFRIKA, Andisiwe Makinana and Thabo Mokone
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
PAP president Roger Nkodo Dang.
PAP president Roger Nkodo Dang.
Image: Supplied

Pan-African Parliament president Roger Nkodo Dang rejected a ministerial home offered to him by the South African government, opting to stay at the upmarket Michelangelo Hotel in lofty Sandton.

A PAP spokesman confirmed that Dang also turned down a Mercedes-Benz E-Class offered by the Department of International Relations and Co-opertaion. PAP had to provide him with a Mercedes Benz ML sport utility vehicle.

Vipya Harawa, PAP’s clerk of parliament,  revealed that Dang also stayed at an exclusive Pretoria estate as a cost of R80,000 a month.

Dang has two chefs and two cleaners, all paid for by the African Union.  

Harawa said Dang booked himself at the luxurious hotel “for the better part of 2015 and 2016”. 

“After 2016, he moved to an exclusive residence in Waterkloof. This after the ministerial residence offered by Dirco was rejected by Mr Nkodo as being substandard,” Harawa said in a written reply.

These revelations come as the SA delegation expressed shock at the state of PAP under Dang’s watch, with the head of the institution being accused of failing to account for the mess.

The institution is also under attack for failing to fulfil its mandates of acting as an advisory body to the AU and holding African countries accountable by ensuring good governance and peace on the continent.

International Relations spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya yesterday confirmed that the  South African government “has offered accommodation for the president of ... PAP as a courtesy” since inception in 2004. 

Mabaya also admitted that Dang has been staying at a hotel since his appointment as PAP president, instead of the house the Department of Public Works allocated to him in Waterkloof, Pretoria, “due to ongoing renovations”.

Read the full story in the Sunday Times.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now