Public outrage forces ministerial perks review
OUTRAGE over the perks enjoyed by Cabinet ministers and their deputies under the Guide for Members of the Executive, including their not having to pay for municipal services such as electricity and water, has forced a review of the guide known as the Ministerial Handbook.
The rewards enjoyed by ministers and their deputies have been criticised over the years and this week the Public Servants Association (PSA) criticised the benefits enjoyed by the ministers and deputies, despite their annual salaries which range between R2 million and R2.5m.
One of the PSA’S biggest concerns was that ministers and their deputies were exempt from paying for municipal services such as electricity and water.
The union called the Ministerial Handbook a licence to luxury for a few privileged persons while the majority was subjected to ever-increasing expenses and stagnant salaries.
PSA spokesperson Reuben Maleka said it was time for President Cyril Ramaphosa to do the right thing and scrap the senseless rules in the Ministerial Handbook.
Maleka said big earners must be treated like all workers who were responsible for their living expenses, albeit being paid low salaries and receiving no increases.
“To exempt them from paying for municipal services is equal to spitting on the poor whose services are swiftly disconnected when accounts are in arrears,” Maleka said.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the public outrage was appreciated, considering the social and economic context and difficulties many citizens faced.
“As a government that listens as well as a president that is attuned to issues and concerns raised by South Africans, the Ministerial Handbook will be reviewed. Therefore, it mutes a discussion on various elements until such time a review has been conducted,” Magwenya said.
He could not give a time frame for when the review of the Ministerial Handbook would take place.
Maleka said the question that begged to be answered was how those earning between R2m and R2.5m per year could be receiving free water and electricity while government employees earning R104 000 per year were expected to pay for these services.
Bantu Holomisa, UDM leader and member of Parliament, said such perks were not fair to the taxpayer.
“This is not the first time people have been asking that the official Ministerial Handbook must be reviewed and it looks like the people were misled because we were told that this thing has been fixed and I think Parliament needs to act with speed on these issues.
“Typically the ANC government has been a disappointment because they’ve never focused on putting the people first; it’s the leaders and their families who matter. I am not surprised that these perks are still being questioned, so the ball is in their court, it is time to fix it and they must do it,” Holomisa said.
Narend Singh, IFP chief whip in Parliament, said that when Parliament resumes in a week’s time they would request the latest handbook and go through it because there were certain principles that had to be adopted when putting the handbook together.
“It seems whoever has put it together has gone outside of those principles, including adding items like these. It is something we are going to ask for in Parliament and go through with the president because it comes from the president,” Singh said.
This week the ANC’S tripartite alliance partner Cosatu said it was shocked by reports which show taxpayers pay for water and electricity used by members of the cabinet.
The federation’s national spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, called for the scrapping of the perks for cabinet ministers and members which he referred to as “vulgar and tone-deaf perks”.
Pamla said that there was also an urgent need for an overhaul of the Ministerial Handbook that was out of touch with reality.
“In addition, this is a perfect time for the nation to demand the capping of executive pay to reduce the gap between the highest and the lowest paid.
“Wage inequality remains the main driver of overall inequality and the way to curb high inequality is to close the gaps between the highest paid and the lowest paid,” Pamla said.