'To study road safety'
TRANSPORT Department and Road Traffic Management Corporation executives spent R2.6-million in two years on overseas trips to learn about road safety, a parliamentary reply from Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele revealed yesterday.
The trips took place between April 2009 and the end of March 2011.
The former chief executive of the RTMC, Ranthoko Rakgoale, took trips to Tanzania and Russia but "there is no record of any report from the trip".
Rakgoale has been suspended on full pay for the past 21 months, after "an irregular lease agreement of R658-million over a 10-year period" and irregular expenditure estimated at R144-million.
Business Day reported last month that while the corporation was supposed to be putting a stop to road deaths, Rakgoale and two other suspended officials had been paid R3,4-million to sit at home.
Other officials also racked up air miles. Four managers and board members spent R643000 in October 2009 on a trip to the US and Canada to "research" a points demerit system for bad drivers.
Another four managers and board members then visited Australia to do the same research - at a cost of R263000.
In November 2010, another three officials went back to Canada at a cost of R220000, to study the system again.
And a seven-day trip to Geneva, Switzerland, by three officials to a UN road safety meeting cost R233000.
But, according to Ndebele, most of the money was well spent. "Following this meeting in Geneva, one of the major works done was the National Road Safety Strategy document 2011-2020." This will be submitted to Cabinet soon.
Officials appear to have been jetting around while the corporation was running out of money. The Sunday Times reported last month that it was R80.7-million in debt in the last financial year.
Officials spend R2.6m on jaunts
'To study road safety'
TRANSPORT Department and Road Traffic Management Corporation executives spent R2.6-million in two years on overseas trips to learn about road safety, a parliamentary reply from Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele revealed yesterday.
The trips took place between April 2009 and the end of March 2011.
The former chief executive of the RTMC, Ranthoko Rakgoale, took trips to Tanzania and Russia but "there is no record of any report from the trip".
Rakgoale has been suspended on full pay for the past 21 months, after "an irregular lease agreement of R658-million over a 10-year period" and irregular expenditure estimated at R144-million.
Business Day reported last month that while the corporation was supposed to be putting a stop to road deaths, Rakgoale and two other suspended officials had been paid R3,4-million to sit at home.
Other officials also racked up air miles. Four managers and board members spent R643000 in October 2009 on a trip to the US and Canada to "research" a points demerit system for bad drivers.
Another four managers and board members then visited Australia to do the same research - at a cost of R263000.
In November 2010, another three officials went back to Canada at a cost of R220000, to study the system again.
And a seven-day trip to Geneva, Switzerland, by three officials to a UN road safety meeting cost R233000.
But, according to Ndebele, most of the money was well spent. "Following this meeting in Geneva, one of the major works done was the National Road Safety Strategy document 2011-2020." This will be submitted to Cabinet soon.
Officials appear to have been jetting around while the corporation was running out of money. The Sunday Times reported last month that it was R80.7-million in debt in the last financial year.
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