Thandi Modise is resisting attempts by parliament to recover more than R125,000 paid to her because she thought she was entitled to the same perks as National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete.
The Sunday Times has seen documents in which parliament's top administrators advise Modise, the chairwoman of the National Council of Provinces, that the allowance paid to her had been calculated using the wrong formula.
She has been asked to repay R125,953 that she received over the past three years, but refuses to do so.
Those with knowledge of the matter said the overpayment happened after Modise ordered officials in her office to claim her allowance at the pay grade of a deputy president. She had learnt that this was the grade used for Mbete.The handbook for ministers and presiding officers stipulates that MPs may only claim a travel allowance equivalent to that paid to directors-general.
"We discovered that the excessive payments were made to her after she ordered her staff to do so," said an official.
Documents seen by the Sunday Times show that Modise benefited from frequent international trips between 2014 and 2016; R41,422 was paid to her for a five-day trip to Russia in June 2015. She was entitled to only R21,697.
Big Apple trip
In August that year, Modise claimed R35,148 for a 10-day trip to New York whereas she should have claimed R18,411.
The scandal is also said to involve other presiding officers of the NCOP. When parliamentary officials picked up the miscalculation last year, they informed Modise of the error and proposed she repay the money.
Modise, who earns about R2.7-million a year, is said to be resisting.
Her spokeswoman, Tsepiso Shuenyane, said a parliamentary section dealing with benefits for MPs had no policy on travel allowances for presiding officers.
"The unit ... currently does not have a set policy or guidelines in predetermining the calculations for international S&T [subsistence and travel] allowance for the level of Speaker of the National Assembly, chairperson of the NCOP, and other presiding officers of both houses of parliament," she said...