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- Details on the cost of hosting the recently held 15th BRICS Summit have emerged.
- The Department of International Relations and Cooperation spent just over R100 million on the event.
- SAPS also spent R75 million on providing security at the summit.
The government splashed out more than R100 million on hosting the recently held 15th BRICS Summit.
It's already been revealed that R75 million was spent on policing and security for the summit, bringing the cumulative amount spent on the three-day event to nearly R180 million.
DA MP Emma Louise Powell posed a written parliamentary question to International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor about the cost of hosting the summit.
Pandor responded that the expenditure incurred by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) to host the summit was R104 350 405.79.
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Pandor added that Dirco did not contribute financially to the hosting of the BRICS Parliamentary Forum.
In a statement, Louise-Powell said the three-day summit had cost the South African taxpayer no less than R180 million.
"This grotesque expenditure is a kick in the teeth for ordinary South Africans who have been left to fend for themselves in a country with one of the highest crime and unemployment rates in the world," she said.
She added:
Given the absence of a single BRICS trade agreement, Louise-Powell said it was doubtful that South Africa stood to derive any tangible economic benefit from the alliance.
"Conversely, South Africa's alignment within the expanding BRICS bloc - which now includes theocratic dictatorships such as Iran - may come to jeopardise existing relationships with our biggest trading partners in the West," she said.
"In recent years, roughly 77% of foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa came from three main Western markets. The ANC will of course, not admit this because it is not in their political interests to do so."
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According to Police Minister Bheki Cele, more than 5 000 officers were deployed and 700 vehicles utilised for the summit.
Cele was also responding to a written parliamentary question from the DA on policing costs for the event.
"A total number of 5 234 SA Police Service (SAPS) members were deployed during the summit and a total number of 726 SAPS vehicles were utilised. An amount of approximately R75 000 000 was spent. There was no additional security with regards to the summit," Cele said earlier this month.
