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We learned today that the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, refused to put her handbag through an airport X-ray scanner in Oslo, Norway. As a result, she missed the commercial flight that she was due to board. In order to get to the engagement she was travelling to (which she missed anyway), Minister Nkoana-Mashabane chartered a private jet at a cost of R235 343 to the public purse.

Yet again, ordinary South Africans have had to foot the bill for the vanity and excesses of those who are meant to be public servants.

Government Ministers should be subject to the same security regulations as every other airline passenger, and there should be no provision that allows members of the executive to bill the public for their superiority complexes. Minister Nkoana-Mashbane should be made to pay back the cost of the chartered flight out of her own pocket. In addition, she should reimburse her Department for the cost of the first-class flight she missed from Oslo to Sofia, Bulgaria.

It is time for members of our government to understand that they are not more important than the citizens they serve.

Over the last two years President Zuma’s cabinet has spent over R3.8 billion financing the lavish lifestyles and stroking the egos of its members, with self-congratulatory advertising, property renovations, luxury vehicles and VIP tickets to sporting events.

The handbag incident in Oslo underscores once again just how out of touch this government is with the economic realities of the majority of South Africans. Nkoana-Mashabane must pay back the money she owes to the people of this country.