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A response to a Parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance (DA) received yesterday, has revealed that the National Treasury department would have saved more than R 3.3 million in travel expenses had they simply booked economy class instead of business class flights for their employees. (See reply below)

This cost calculation is only from July 2008 to March 2009 and excludes the travel costs of the minister and the Director General, which means that the total wastage involved with the business class flights will be even more for the full year if the latter is included. The Treasury is supposed to lead by example - and the problem with their proposal to book employees on economy class only when flights are shorter than four hours, as stated in the reply, is that the bulk of the travel cost is made up by international flights, the large majority of which take longer than four hours. We don't see any reason why all employees from deputy director general level down should not be travelling economy on all flights.

The cost saving will be significant. In just nine months, one department spent R3-million more than they needed to. Apply the same to 34 ministries, over a five year administration, and we are talking about R75-million. Government needs to take these sorts of efficiencies seriously and must put into practice the President's words of "there must be no wastage, no rollovers every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully."



NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NUMBER: 901
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21 AUGUST 2009

Mr M Swart (DA) to ask the Minister of Finance:

(1) What the total expenditure amounted to in respect of business class airline tickets for officials of the National Treasury in the 2008-09 financial year;
(2) What the quantum of savings would have been had the economy class tickets been purchased during said period;
(3) Whether, in light of the current economic climate, the right of officials to fly business class will be withdrawn; if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply:

The National Treasury obtained the services of a new travel agency during August 2008 and therefore only information for the period 1 July 2008 to March 2009 could be obtained (9 months). The following costs cover all senior officials but exclude the Ministry and the DG:

(1) Domestic air travel : R 862, 284
International air travel : R8,324,494
Total expenditure : R9,186,778

(2) Domestic air travel potential saving : R 200,143
International air travel potential saving : R 3,121,687
Total potential saving : R 3,321,830

(3) A circular with regard to cost saving measures was issued by the Chief Financial Officer, where officials from Deputy Director-General level and below were requested to fly economic class for all domestic flights and international flights taking less than 4 hours. Officials are only travelling business class for longer international flights. Senior officials are almost always required to work as soon as they land and return as soon as possible. This measure ensures that the department also saves on accommodation costs as it minimises the number of overnight stays in overseas hotels.

The National Treasury is very committed to explore all avenues to curtail costs and will do so vigorously.