A response to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question has revealed that the Department of Public Service and Administration spent R54 million on 22 conferences during the period 1 January 2006 to 30 September 2009. (The full reply is available on request.) A total of 11 645 guests attended 21 of the conferences at an average cost per head of R4 626. At the far end of the spectrum, the most expensive event (Global Forum V Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity) cost R23.9 million, for just 850 guests. The average cost per head in the case ballooned to a staggering R28,118. A breakdown of the cost for the Global Forum suggests that the bulk of the money spent on this event was misallocated in a grossly inappropriate manner. For example - the R23.9 million include a R2 million "cocktail and gala function", R2.8 million paid to an events coordinator and R8.7 million spent on flights. The conference venue alone cost R1.8 million. These sorts of extravagant extras are reflected in many of the other conferences, for example the various "Annual Service Delivery Learning Academies" spent R33 000, R21 000 and R56 000 on promotional gifts alone. This excessive expenditure appears to have very little merit. Money that should be spent on service delivery is being used by the ANC government to provide expensive platforms for people to ostensibly plan about how to improve South Africa's democracy, but in reality deliver nothing more than a massive bill to the South African public and a long list of self indulgent costs, which will now only serve to further damage the government's reputation. A summary of the conferences follow below:
Conference Amount spent No of guests Cost per guest
Anti-Corruption Learning Network R78,000 150 R520
Anti-Corruption Learning Network R92,000 150 R613
5th Senior Management Services R43,000 500 R86
6th Senior Management Services R276,000 600 R460
7th Senior Management Services R200,000 350 R571
8th Senior Management Services R161,000 300 R537
1st Health and Wellness R2,271,000 360 R6,308
2nd Health and Wellness R876,000 540 R1,622
3rd Health and Wellness R374,000 539 R694
2nd National Conference of Community Development Workers R456,000 500 R912
Community Development Worker Indaba R4,100,000 3000 R1,367
Global Forum V Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity R23,900,000 850 R28,118
7th Pan Africa Conference R13,765,000 500 R27,530
5th Annual Service Delivery Learning Academy R1,000,000 500 R2,000
6th Annual Service Delivery Learning Academy R553,000 500 R1,106
7th Annual Service Delivery Learning Academy R841,000 790 R1,065
Public Service Gender Indaba R681,000 300 R2,270
Public Service Gender Indaba R630,000 180 R3,500
CPSI - 2006 Annual Public Sector Innovation Awards R1,100,000 Unanswered Unanswered
CPSI - 2007 Annual Public Sector Innovation Awards R375,000 157 R2,389
CPSI - 2008 Annual Public Sector Innovation Awards R801,000 403 R1,988
CPSI - 2009 Annual Public Sector Innovation Awards R1,300,000 476 R2,731
Totals R53,873,000 11645 R4,626
But that's not all. The reply also sets out a further R4 million spent on annual functions. The bulk of which is made up of a R3 million Public Service Week function, held in June 2006, which included a whopping R2.7 million spent on satellite connectivity, presumably so those members of the department not able to attend the event, could tune in via TV and join in the festivities.

This question is one of a series of generic questions the DA has put to every national department and if this reply is anything to go by the national administration is spending a huge amount of public money on events which make little difference to people's lives.

The ministerial task team established by cabinet to "scrutinise public expenditure trends and propose cost-cutting measures" should focus on putting measures in place to curb this type of gross wastefulness within government departments. Solutions are not difficult to come by. Government should produce a pro forma template which addresses the core needs of any conference or function and any expenditure outside of this should be separately motivated for in a letter to the Director General.

The DA will be asking a series of follow up questions to the minister to interrogate these costs and to get a full explanation as to their justification