{"id":827125,"date":"2025-06-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=827125"},"modified":"2025-06-08T10:08:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T08:08:27","slug":"south-africas-deputy-president-spent-r346000-a-night-in-london-using-taxpayer-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/827125\/south-africas-deputy-president-spent-r346000-a-night-in-london-using-taxpayer-money\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s Deputy President spent R346,000 a night in London using taxpayer money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa\u2019s Deputy President Paul Mashatile spent R346,000 a night for accommodation in London for him and his spouse, Humile Mashatile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was revealed in a response to a parliamentary question from MP Lerato Ngobeni about Mashatile\u2019s official travel since he assumed office on 3 July 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ngobeni requested details about the purpose and justification for each trip, the destination information, and the costs incurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She asked for information about the expenses incurred for transportation, accommodation, meals, and other related incidental costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Deputy President\u2019s office provided details about Mashatile\u2019s travels in two responses \u2013 one in February 2025 and one in May 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They said that after Mashatile assumed office on 3 July 2024, he has undertaken four trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ireland and the United Kingdom Working Visits from 26 September to 4 October 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Standing for President Ramaphosa and South Africa at the inauguration of the President of Botswana, Duma Boko, on 8 November 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Standing for President Ramaphosa and South Africa, at the extraordinary SADC Summit held on 20 November 2024 in Harare, Zimbabwe.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Japan working visit from 16 to 19 March 2025.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>His office showed that the working visits to Ireland and the United Kingdom cost R5.475 million, and the working visit to Japan cost R2.3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What stood out about the cost breakdown was the high amounts associated with Mashatile\u2019s accommodation for him and his spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It cost the South African taxpayers R2.077 million for Mashatile\u2019s six-night stay in London. This equates to R346,000 a night for accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Japan trip, taxpayers forked out R956,057 for the four-night stay. This equates to R239,000 per night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Deputy President\u2019s office did not provide details about where he stayed and why there was such a high cost associated with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put this cost into context, the largest suite at the Aman Tokyo, widely regarded as one of the top hotels in Japan, costs R142,000 per night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same goes for London. Although it is possible to find a room for R346,000 a night at a top hotel like Claridge\u2019s or The Ritz, it is incredibly opulent and only for the ultra-rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The table below shows the cost for Mashatile and his wife\u2019s accommodation during their trips to London and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Destination<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Dates<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Accommodation Cost<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Cost per night (estimate)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Ireland<\/td><td>26 to 29 September 2024<\/td><td>R147,439<\/td><td>R49,146<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>United Kingdom<\/td><td>30 September to 4 October 2024<\/td><td>R2,077,587<\/td><td>R346,265<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Japan<\/td><td>16 to 19 March 2025<\/td><td>R956,057<\/td><td>R239,014<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s Deputy President Paul Mashatile spent R346,000 a night for accommodation in London for him and his spouse, Humile Mashatile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":827138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22782,22780,22781,19719],"class_list":["post-827125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-aman-tokyo","tag-deputy-president-paul-mashatile","tag-humile-mashatile","tag-paul-mashatile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":827135,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827125\/revisions\/827135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}