South African taxpayers paid R6 million for a luxury trip to Venezuela by Gauteng Provincial Legislature Speaker Morakane Mosupyoe and a small delegation, including R1.5 million in spending allowances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trip, which took place in November 2025, involved 13 people, including Mosupyoe, four members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and seven staff members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), each member of the delegation received an allowance of R125,000 for being outside the country on legislative business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The spending has prompted the DA to submit a motion of censure against Mosupyoe, accusing her of wasting public money on a trip that provided limited value to Gauteng residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mosupyoe defended the trip and said it was intended to strengthen diplomatic relations between Gauteng and Venezuela and promote South Africa internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThrough coordination with Gauteng Provincial Legislature, South Africa was recognised as the Guest of Honour country at the International Fair of Tourism FITVEN,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gauteng legislature exhibited on the main stall alongside Brand South Africa and displayed educational and promotional material during the International Tourism Fair of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur presence deepened diplomatic relations and soft-power international relations between Gauteng and its counterparts,\u201d Mosupyoe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt cemented the expressions of solidarity and mutual respect, with participation serving to enhance the dialogue and exchange that the FITVEN was designed to foster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Solly Msimanga, a Gauteng legislature member and leader of the opposition, questioned why such a large delegation was necessary and whether the trip was justified by its cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the tourism exhibition itself lasted only four days, while Brand South Africa was already present and representing the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis means that there was no need for the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to be at the FITVEN as South Africa was already represented by BrandSA,\u201d Msimanga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe delegation attended the four-day tourism conference, but the rest of the trip cannot be explained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below gives a breakdown of the cost of the Venezuela trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Msimanga accused the Speaker of using the overseas trip to increase the allowances received by the delegation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis action by the Speaker was solely for personal interests, specifically to increase the stipend received for being out of the country on legislative business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He described the trip to Venezuela as a waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when Gauteng faces significant service-delivery challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWasting money on a trip when service delivery in the province is floundering indicates that the Speaker cares little about the well-being of Gauteng residents,\u201d Msimanga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DA said politicians and public officials should be held accountable when public funds are used for what it considers unnecessary travel and personal benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe disapprove of the wasteful expenditure of taxpayers\u2019 money, particularly by politicians and officials hired to deliver services,\u201d Msimanga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The controversy comes amid growing political scrutiny of government spending on overseas travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposition parties have repeatedly criticised expensive international trips by ministers and officials, particularly while South Africa faces pressure on public finances and service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposition tracking of the Government of National Unity cabinet expenditure found that ministers accumulated almost R450 million in travel and accommodation costs over an 18-month period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ministry of Human Settlements was identified as one of the biggest spenders, with travel and accommodation costs of R32.98 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ActionSA criticised the spending as \u201cexecutive indulgence\u201d and an \u201cout-of-touch misuse of taxpayer funds\u201d, particularly given South Africa\u2019s housing shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau also faced criticism after a three-night trip to New York cost taxpayers R2.12 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie incurred R4.8 million in international travel costs across 12 trips, including visits to Brazil, Russia, Singapore and Spain. This included almost R500,000 to take a receptionist to the Olympics and Paralympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South African taxpayers paid R6 million for a luxury trip to Venezuela by Gauteng Provincial Legislature Speaker Morakane Mosupyoe and a small delegation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":875084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2099000380986171569","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2203999043753828","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22969,22560,26488],"class_list":["post-875059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-action-sa","tag-democratic-alliance-da","tag-gauteng-provincial-legislature-speaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875059","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875086,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875059\/revisions\/875086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Item<\/strong><\/th> Cost<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Air travel<\/td> R3,274,819<\/td><\/tr> Accommodation<\/td> R931,870<\/td><\/tr> Transport<\/td> R251,717<\/td><\/tr> Travel services<\/td> R33,840<\/td><\/tr> Per diem<\/td> R1,505,651<\/td><\/tr> Total<\/strong><\/td> R5,997,895<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n R450 million in travel and accommodation costs in 18 months<\/h2>\n\n\n\n