South Africa's Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has referred questions about her official travel costs to the parliamentary joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI). This move comes after ActionSA MP Dr. Kgosi Letlape questioned Ntshavheni about her travel expenses since taking office in July 2024. Letlape's query was sparked by Ntshavheni's practice of sharing some of her official trips on social media platform X.
Letlape's parliamentary question sought a detailed breakdown of Ntshavheni's official travel, including the purpose and justification for each trip, destinations, and costs incurred. He also requested information about accompanying support staff and additional expenditure associated with each trip. Ntshavheni responded by stating that publicly disclosed trips are those of a public nature, while all trip information is provided to the JSCI.
The JSCI has received information about all trips undertaken by Ntshavheni and her deputy ministers. However, a breakdown of Ntshavheni's travel costs was not provided in the public parliamentary response. Instead, the document disclosed travel expenses for deputy ministers Nonceba Mhlauli and Kenneth Morolong, as well as their support staff. Between July 3, 2024, and March 31, 2025, their travel expenses totaled approximately R4.1 million.
The travel expenses for Mhlauli, Morolong, and their staff increased to about R6.4 million for the period from April 2025 to February 2026. This brings the combined expenditure disclosed in the response to around R10.5 million. Mhlauli and her support staff accounted for approximately R3.14 million across the two periods, including R1.6 million for car rentals, R530,744 for accommodation, and R964,673 for flights.
The purposes listed for Mhlauli's travel included ministry outreach programmes, parliamentary and constituency work, stakeholder engagements, presidential imbizos, the state of the nation address, and other Presidency programmes. Morolong and his support team accounted for approximately R7.36 million in travel expenditure over the two periods. This included R3.27 million for car rentals, R2.22 million for accommodation, and R1.56 million for flights.
Morolong's travel purposes included parliamentary duties, imbizos, outreach programmes, district development model engagements, awards ceremonies, Women's Day activities, and a state funeral. The disclosure of travel costs for Ntshavheni's deputy ministers and their staff provides some insight into the expenses incurred by the Ministry in the Presidency.
The referral of Ntshavheni's travel costs to the JSCI has raised questions about transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. The committee's review of the minister's travel expenses is expected to provide further clarity on the matter.
Key points
- Deputy ministers' travel expenses total R10.5 million
- Ntshavheni refers travel costs to JSCI amid scrutiny
- Travel expenses for Mhlauli and Morolong disclosed
