Johannesburg — MEMBERS of President Jacob Zuma 's cabinet are learning fast. After opposition MPs roasted some of them for staying in luxury hotels while their official homes were being renovated, and for extravagant expenditure on imbizos, they are now simply avoiding questions on subjects such as these.

Asked by Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Kenneth Mubu how much she spent on hotel accommodation while her residence was being renovated, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane said she had spent August 25-27, September 9-13 and October 13-15 in a hotel in Cape Town, and "expenses incurred in this regard were in line with the guidelines provided in the Ministerial Handbook". That dreaded handbook again. Perhaps she was in the five- star Table Bay Hotel with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa , and would prefer this not to be widely known.

When Mubu's DA colleague, Juanita Terblanche, asked Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma how much she had spent on imbizos, she received a similar response. "The expenditure of these events forms part of the overall expenditure of the department, which is found in the department's reports."

Obfuscation rules.

Let's not be too hasty

REPLYING to a parliamentary question from Freedom Front Plus MP Corne Mulder, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane said there was no reason for an application for a foreign diplomat to be accepted as an ambassador in SA to be held back.

She also said there was no undue delay in the granting of "agreement".

Then the minister came up with the startling information that the verification process for the diplomat in question was concluded in July 2005, but approval was granted only in September this year, and the foreign ministry of the diplomat was informed five days later.

If it takes four years from verification to the granting of approval, then it is small wonder that diplomats are generally older people -- they age considerably while waiting for SA to let them in.

Odder and odder

CELLULAR operator Cell C has taken the very odd decision to run a competition for a very odd reason.

The company is yet to declare an actual profit, despite being in business for ages. Yet it's now about to hand over about R8m to whoever wins a lucky draw.

The contest is designed to make people conform to the new law that compels telecoms operators to record the personal details of all their clients. So Cell C hopes its customers will register their details by January 31, encouraged by the idea of winning cash that reflects their phone numbers.

So if your number is 0843126610, you will win R8431266,10 if your name pops up in the draw.

The contest is open to new customers and to people who have ported a number from the other networks.

But for a company that is still waiting to ring up a profit, it does seems like an awfully extravagant way to extract our identification details.

Wise words

"FEW men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others." Radical US environmentalist Edward Abbey (1927-89).