NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 95
PUBLISHED IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO: 17 OF 09 OCTOBER 2009
MRS EC VAN LINGEN (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND
COOPERATION:
1. Whether the Minister approved the visit by delegates of Kouga
Municipality for a Twinning expedition with the city of Ubatuba in
Brazil in July 2009; if so, what are the relevant details?
2. Whether a Twinning Agreement has been accepted and approved by the
department; if so, what are the details of the agreement?
3. Whether the Kouga Municipality have submitted a report to the
Department of their return; if so, when was the report submitted, will
a copy of the report be provided, if not, why not?
4. What was the total cost incurred for this trip and who were the
individuals who undertook this trip, and where was the fund of this
trip obtained from?
5. Whether the Minister can justify these International âTwinning âvisits
by local municipality under the current climate constraints; if so,
why, if not why not?
REPLY:
1. There was no formal communication to DIRCO regarding the visit. The
Municipality communicated directly with its foreign counterparts.
2. There was no approval as the Department is not expected to approve
twinning agreements by stakeholders
3. There was no post visit report submitted.
4. DIRCO does not budget or carry out payments for its stakeholders
5. The MOU comes to DIRCO to determine if it is in accordance with a non-
binding twinning arrangement and to ensure that it does not assume
obligations on the part of the South African Government
UNQOUTE