South Africa: Minister Bongo sets the record straight on media reports on his hotel stay

The Minister of State Security, Adv Bongani Bongo,  has noted with concern media reports alleging that he has had prolonged stay at a Cape Town hotel, raking up a bill of R147 000.

The story was first published by the Sunday Times on Sunday 18 February 2018, before being carried by other media outlets.

The Minister states categorically that he did not stay at the hotel for three weeks and raked up this ‘bill of R147 000’, precisely “because of the realization of our current fiscal constraints and our responsibility as government to lead from the front” he said. His stay was limited to a period of three days.

“For the record, I wish to indicate that the process of allocation of my official residence in Cape Town is yet to be finalized by the relevant department. In the meantime I have been using in the main my old accommodation at the Parliamentary Village. Given the nature of the work we do, I have also made use of other accommodation as well as the hotel referred to in the reports” said Minister Bongo.

The Ministry has approached the Sunday Times to raise its concerns and to seek for a retraction and an apology for the clearly inaccurate information presented as facts in the story.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Government Communication and Information.