The department also recorded expenditure on meals, catering and incidental costs associated with official travel.
Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile. Picture: Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) spent R95.98 million on official travel and related expenses over three financial years, including accommodation, conference facilities, shuttle services, flights and vehicle hire.
The expenditure, which totalled R95 981 278.15, covered the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years, according to written responses by Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile to questions posed by the Gauteng legislature.
How many officials travelled?
The department recorded 103 officials travelling outside Gauteng in 2023-24, followed by 90 in 2024-25 and 37 in 2025-26.
This represents 230 recorded instances of officials travelling outside the province across the three financial years.
The department also reported 101 domestic air-ticket line items, comprising 47 in 2023-24, 46 in 2024-25 and eight in 2025-26.
Meanwhile, officials booked 233 hotel room nights over the three years. These comprised 95 in 2023-24, 103 in 2024-25 and 35 in 2025-26.
The department also recorded 76 car-hire bookings and 26 shuttle bookings over the period.
Did travel expenditure increase or decrease?
The department’s overall spending declined between the first two financial years, then increased again in 2025-26.
Based on the expenditure totals provided for the seven categories of travel-related costs, spending fell from approximately R35.07 million in 2023-24 to R27.35 million in 2024-25.
This represents a decrease of about 22%.
However, expenditure rose to approximately R33.57 million in 2025-26, an increase of around 23% compared with the previous financial year.
Despite this recovery, the 2025-26 total remained below the expenditure recorded in 2023-24.
Conference facilities accounted for the biggest bill
Conference facilities and venues accounted for the largest single category of expenditure, with the department spending R47.88 million across the three years.
The GDE spent R23.83 million on conference facilities in 2023/24, followed by R13.91 million in 2024-25 and R10.14 million in 2025-26.
Accommodation was another significant expense, costing approximately R19.61 million over the period.
Spending on accommodation declined from R6.54 million in 2023-24 to R5.68 million in 2024-25 before rising to R7.39 million in 2025-26.
Shuttle services also accounted for a substantial portion of the expenditure. The department spent R283 717.56 in 2023-24, R6.76 million in 2024-25 and R14.62 million in 2025-26.
The figures show that expenditure on shuttle services increased sharply over the years.
How much went towards flights and vehicle hire?
Air travel cost the department approximately R3.04 million over the three years.
This included domestic and international air travel. Domestic air travel expenditure amounted to R680 603.18 in 2023-24, R550 953.86 in 2024-25 and R435 865.05 in 2025-26.
Foreign air travel accounted for R818 109 in 2023-24. No foreign air-travel expenditure was recorded in the 2024-25 table, while R549 717.51 was recorded in 2025-26.
Vehicle hire cost approximately R524 376.85 across the three years, including domestic and foreign car rentals.
Meals and travel management costs
The department also recorded expenditure on meals, catering and incidental costs associated with official travel.
These expenses amounted to R164 287.26 in 2023-24, R158,141.94 in 2024/25 and R198 295.98 in 2025-26.
In its response, the department explained that the expenditure included “transactions recorded under meals, catering, and incidental costs associated with official travel” in its financial system.
It added that “incidental cost classifications may include travel-related ancillary expenses recorded under the applicable expenditure category”.
Travel management services cost a further R2.59 million in 2023-24, R93 149.09 in 2024-25 and R69 550.37 in 2025-26.
