Johannesburg mayor defends controversial Mumbai visit

The Mayor of South Africa's economic hub, Johannesburg, has defended a controversial million-rand study tour with 21 city officials to four Asian cities, including Mumbai.

The Mayor of South Africa's economic hub, Johannesburg, has defended a controversial million-rand study tour with 21 city officials to four Asian cities, including Mumbai.

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"The tour was not a holiday. There was important work to be done," Mayor Amos Masondo said amid claims by opposition parties in Johannesburg City Council that the expenditure was unjustified at a time when the city was facing a mounting budget crisis.

The mayoral delegation signed Memoranda of Understanding with each of the four cities visited -- Mumbai,
Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Shanghai in China and St Petersburg in Russia.

Masondo said although some would interpret the cost of the trip of over a million rands as unjustified, "you have to
weigh that carefully against the overall good that will emerge out of the trip."

The Mayor, however, did not give details of what the expected results could be, but added that the trip may yield
"very good results" because the economies of countries like China and India were burgeoning inspite of the global
recession.

He said the trip had earlier been debated in the Council and was approved.