Cargate: Manuel's R1.2 million ego trip

Eight months ago Trevor Manuel delivered his final budget speech as Finance Minister. In it, he summed up the responsibilities of government officials in the following words:

"Budgeting is not only about expanding expenditure on constructive and necessary activities, it is also about rooting out waste, promoting cost-efficiency and phasing out ineffective programmes... A greater sense of responsibility needs to permeate the ethos of government all the way through the accountability chain... Our resolve will be tested to its limits. We have to put self-interest aside, we have to face each other honestly and openly."

More recently, in his Green Paper on National Strategic Planning, he stated the following:

"[G]overnment will not shirk its responsibility to lead, especially in crystallising government's strategic posture."

It goes without saying that rooting out waste, setting aside selfish intentions, and instilling a "greater sense of responsibility" into the "ethos of government" don't exactly square off with spending R1.2-million on a BMW 7 Series - or, indeed, forking out R100,000 in unnecessary accessories. And certainly, given the President's pledge to ensure that government would "cut our cloth according to our size", it is difficult to see how such a purchase would contribute to "crystallising government's strategic posture".

In short, Mr. Manuel's acquisition is inappropriate, exorbitant, and completely contrary to his repeated calls for austerity in these troubling economic times.

We will now submit a follow up parliamentary question to determine exactly what Mr. Manuel was referring to by "standard manufacturer's extras", as the Minister's response to this section of the question was clearly evasive. Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula recently spent R83,879.00 on accessories for two vehicles, and managed to purchase for that amount an array of completely unnecessary items, including a multi-contour seat package, ceramic surround controls, ambient interior lighting, adaptive headlights, high beam assist, lane change and departure warnings, a rear view camera, a media interface, privacy glass, and an exterior spare wheel carrier.

Presumably, then, Mr. Manuel's R99,200.00 goes well beyond what one might reasonably deem a "standard extra". Indeed, this is an enormous amount to waste on unnecessary additional items. Spending so much money on extras reveals the true motivation for these extravagant purchases -- they are not tools to help the ministers do their jobs, they are extensions of the ministers' egos.

This acquisition brings the total bill for ministerial vehicles to R42,612,406.00, and ministerial vehicle accessories have now cost the taxpayer R839,571.00. We will add these to our Wasteful Expenditure Monitor, and we will continue to urge cabinet to adopt the austerity measures that were proposed to Vusi Mavimbela, Director-General in the Presidency back in July, and which still have not been acted upon outside of the Western Cape .

Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko, MP, Democratic Alliance national spokesperson, October 9 2009

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