South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka did nothing wrong when she used an air force plane to fly with her family and friends to the United Arab Emirates for a holiday, an official investigation concluded.

“It cannot be found that the deputy president acted improperly or that she failed to act in good faith,” Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana said in a report released in Cape Town last week. “She was entitled, as anyone else in her similar position and status, to take her family, a friend and the children of her private secretary with her to the UAE and no-one therefore benefited improperly from the trip.”

Mlambo-Ngcuka was widely criticized for wasting public funds in a country where more than a third of the population lives in poverty. President Thabo Mbeki defended his deputy's travel arrangements were made by the state security services in accordance with government policy.

The trip cost taxpayers about R604 883 ($84,431), excluding costs incurred by her security personnel, Mushwana said.

He found the state had a legal obligation to protect serving and former presidents and their deputies at all times.

Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former mines minister, replaced Jacob Zuma as deputy president on June 22. Zuma was fired by Mbeki on June 14 after a court ruled that Zuma's financial adviser tried to solicit a bribe for him.

The government spent R6,8-million protecting Zuma in the year through March, 5 million rand protecting former President Nelson Mandela and 3 million rand on Mandela's predecessor, Fredrik Willem de Klerk, Mushwana said.

The Public Protector is supposed to ensure that the government remains accountable to the people it serves. Newspapers and opposition parties have accused Mushwana, a former ruling party lawmaker, of failing to do his job properly.