Sy motiveer reiskoste; die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis.

Here Sy means she.

That can be confusing, because Afrikaans sy can also mean his. The difference is grammatical position:

• Sy motiveer reiskoste = She justifies travel costs.
• sy motor = his car.

In your sentence, Sy comes before the verb motiveer, so it is clearly the subject pronoun she.

Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in the present tense. They usually do not change according to the subject.

So you get:

• Ek motiveer
• Jy motiveer
• Sy motiveer
• Hulle motiveer

The same is true for verwerk:

• Die bestuurder verwerk
• Hulle verwerk

So Afrikaans does not add an English-style third-person -s.

Not in the everyday emotional sense of inspire or encourage.

In formal or administrative Afrikaans, motiveer often means:

• justify
• give reasons for
• substantiate

So Sy motiveer reiskoste means she is giving reasons for the travel costs, or justifying them, not making the costs feel inspired.

Because Afrikaans strongly prefers compound nouns written as a single word.

So:

• reis
  • koste → reiskoste

This is very common in Afrikaans. English sometimes writes these as two words, hyphenated words, or one word, but Afrikaans is more consistent about joining them.

Other similar examples:

• treinkaartjie = train ticket
• hotelkamer = hotel room
• reisplan = travel plan

Because the sentence is talking about travel costs in a general or indefinite administrative sense, not necessarily a specifically identified set of costs.

So:

• Sy motiveer reiskoste = She justifies travel costs.

If you wanted to refer to a specific, already known set of travel costs, you could say:

• Sy motiveer die reiskoste = She justifies the travel costs.

Both are possible, but the version without die is natural in formal or procedural language.

Die means the.

A very useful thing about Afrikaans is that die does not change for masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, or plural.

So all of these use die:

• die bestuurder = the manager
• die eis = the claim
• die koste = the costs

That is much simpler than languages that have different article forms.

Yes, bestuurder can mean either driver or manager/supervisor, depending on context.

The basic idea comes from bestuur, which can mean manage, control, or drive.

In this sentence, because the person is processing a claim, bestuurder most likely means:

• manager
• supervisor
• administrator

not driver.

So context is what tells you which meaning is intended.

Here verwerk means process in an administrative sense.

So die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis means the manager handles or processes the claim.

Depending on context, verwerk can also mean things like:

• process data
• process materials
• mentally process something

But in office language, process is the most natural meaning.

The semicolon links two closely related independent clauses:

• Sy motiveer reiskoste
• die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis

A semicolon is common in formal writing when two statements are strongly connected.

You could also write:

• Sy motiveer reiskoste, en die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis.
• Sy motiveer reiskoste. Die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis.

The semicolon simply gives a more formal, compact style.

This is a shortened compound pattern, and it is very common in Afrikaans.

The idea is that two related elements share the rest of the compound. The hyphen shows that reis is incomplete and that the missing ending is understood from the second part.

So reis- en verblyfeis means something like:

• travel claim and accommodation claim
• or a combined travel-and-accommodation claim

The hyphen after reis- signals: the compound continues.

This works a bit like English expressions such as pre- and postwar, where pre- is incomplete on its own.

Yes.

It is built from:

• verblyf = accommodation / lodging / stay
• eis = claim

So verblyfeis means an accommodation claim.

This is another example of the Afrikaans tendency to form single-word compounds.

Usually, yes. The singular eis suggests a single claim, or one claim form covering those expenses.

So:

• die reis- en verblyfeis = the travel and accommodation claim

If there were multiple claims, you would expect the plural:

• eise = claims

In administrative language, a single claim can cover more than one type of expense, so the singular is perfectly natural.

Yes. Both clauses use normal main-clause word order:

• Sy motiveer reiskoste
• die bestuurder verwerk die reis- en verblyfeis

That is basically:

• subject + verb + object

This is the most straightforward Afrikaans word order in main clauses. If another element were moved to the front for emphasis or time/place information, then Afrikaans would still keep the finite verb in second position. But here everything is in the basic, simple order.