This is how much it cost taxpayers to host the BRICS summit in South Africa – BusinessTech

South Africa spent around R60 million a day on the 3-day BRICS Summit in September, despite the absence of a single BRICS trade agreement to come out of the event.

This was revealed by a recent parliamentary Q&A, where the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, was asked for the total expenditure incurred by her department for hosting the BRICS Parliamentary Forum in September 2023.

She revealed that the expenditure incurred by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in the hosting of the 15th BRICS Summit was R104,350,405.79.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) added that this is in addition to the R75 million spent by the South African Police Services (SAPS) protecting attendees at the summit, despite most international delegations being accompanied by their respective national security agencies.

This means that between SAPS and DIRCO, the 3-day BRICS summit cost the South African taxpayer just under R180 million, or R60 million per day. These millions spent on the hosting of the summit are concerning, considering the main reason for lack of action when faced with high crime rates and unemployment is often financial constraints.

“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,” the DA said in a statement.

This love for Russia and other BRICS might be justifiable if there were massive economic upsides to strengthening ties with the Russian Federation. However, it’s the exact opposite. The DA also said that, given the absence of a single BRICS trade agreement, it is doubtful that South Africa stands to derive any tangible economic benefit from this event.

According to Investec chief Annabel Bishop, Russia accounts for a paltry 0.2% of South Africa’s global export trade, while the US, UK, and the EU account for a combined 35%, with China only around 9%.

Additionally, the news of this amount of money being spent for little benefit is a harder pill to swallow amid South Africa’s fiscal crisis, which even prompted the National Treasury to call for drastic steps to rein in spending.

These steps included a freeze on new public service jobs, stopping procurement contracts for all infrastructure projects, and keeping public servant salary increases in check.

These measures weren’t received lightly by many public stakeholders, with some saying “Chaotic budget cuts” are not the answer to the shortfall between tax collections and government spending.

However, Godongwana over the weekend said the cuts would not be as severe as initially expected because the government would have to borrow more funds, but there must be some cut in spending.

He told delegates at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation annual Drakensberg inclusive growth forum last weekend that unless spending cuts were introduced, the government ran the risk of running out of money by March next year.

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