BusinessLive reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding answers after the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) spent millions of taxpayers' money to send a large delegation to a 12-day International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in June.  

The 62-member delegation, which included President Cyril Ramaphosa, was considered the largest delegation from any country and included officials from the newly reconfigured DEL department and other stakeholders, such as trade unions and the business fraternity.  A DEL official has described the trip as a 'jol'.  On Wednesday, the DA shadow minister of employment and labour, Michael Cardo, indicated that a recent reply to a parliamentary question revealed that the DEL had spent a staggering R3.5m on the trip.  He said the opposition party would write to employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi to request “a full, detailed report” on whether the objectives of the trip were achieved.  The report would then be tabled before the parliamentary portfolio committee on employment & labour.  Cardo revealed that the average cost per delegate was “almost an astronomical R100,000”.  Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, who attended the conference, was confident that Nxesi should “find it easy” to account about the trip.

• Read the full original of the above report by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
• Read the DA’s press statement in the above regard at Politicsweb (press statement)

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