As the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) begins in New York City on Monday, the government has once again declined to reveal the full size and cost of South Africa’s delegation attending the annual UN gathering.
Despite multiple requests, key departments failed to provide basic details about who would be travelling to the global women’s summit hosted at the UN headquarters, raising fresh transparency concerns after last year’s outcry over an unusually large South African delegation.
The presidency, when contacted by the Sunday Times, referred queries to the department of women, youth and persons with disabilities (DWYPD), which is leading the country’s participation.
However, the department did not provide information about the overall size or cost of the full South African delegation.
The department of social development (DSD), which last year controversially spent millions sending staff to the event and housing them in an upmarket hotel, also could not state how much it was spending on the trip.
DSD spokesperson Sandy Godlwana said the department was sending three people this year, but couldn’t say what the cost of the trip was due to currency fluctuations.
Spokesperson for the DWYPD Cassius Selala said the department itself was not sending a large contingent of officials.
Instead, he said Sindisiwe Chikunga, the minister, would attend the session accompanied by a small support team consisting of an international relations specialist, the minister’s special adviser, a deputy director-general responsible for monitoring and evaluation, and the chief director for social empowerment of women.
The department’s team would attend from Monday to Friday — five days during the two-week event.
Selala said the department had not calculated the cost of the trip yet.
“The total budget for all the department of women, youth and persons with disabilities’ international commitments in the 2025/26 financial year is R3.25m, and all expenditures are in line with the allocated budget guided by the national government transport and travel policy,” he said.
“A reconciliation of costs will be done post the CSW70 to determine how much the department has spent.”
The lack of transparency comes after last year’s delegation to the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women sparked criticism when it emerged that dozens of delegates from across government had travelled to New York.
In a parliamentary reply to ActionSA MP Dereleen James earlier this year, Chikunga said last year’s delegation included representatives from national and provincial government, parliament, Chapter 9 institutions, academia, the private sector, civil society and youth structures.
Among the political principals attending were social development minister Sisisi Tolashe, basic education deputy minister Makgabo Mhaule, forestry, fisheries and the environment deputy minister Bernice Swarts, and higher education and training deputy minister Mimmy Martha Gondwe.
Officials from several departments — including the presidency, social development and the DWYPD — also attended, alongside representatives from institutions such as the Commission for Gender Equality, the National Youth Development Agency, and the South African Local Government Association.
Chikunga said stakeholders invited to participate were responsible for covering their own costs and denied there had been any secrecy around the trip, arguing that South Africa’s participation in the event was important as a member state of the UN and a signatory to the Beijing Declaration on women’s rights.
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