BusinessLive reports that employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi said this week his department would review its policy regarding the composition and costs of overseas delegations with a view to containing and cutting costs of future delegations.  

This followed widespread criticism after the government sent one of the largest delegations to a recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) 12-day conference in Geneva, Switzerland, which cost taxpayers millions of rand.  The delegation included officials from the department of employment and labour, and various stakeholders, such as trade unions.  The department covered their accommodation, flights and daily allowances.  Nxesi confirmed in a reply to a DA question in parliament that there had been 62 accredited delegates in total, which had cost the department at least R3.5m.  However, he justified the trip, describing it as a “very important session”.  Government delegates and social partners from 187 member states of the ILO gathered for a historic session of the annual conference as the organisation celebrated 100 years of existence.  DA MP Michael Cardo described the Geneva trip as a “colossal waste of taxpayers’ money”.

• Read the full original of the report on the above by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive

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