First ever cuts to Ministerial Handbook perks after a decade of DA pressure. No more Porsche’s for Politicians!

31 October

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is pleased to note that, as a direct result of our ceaseless decade-long fight to cut wasteful expenditure on maintaining the luxury lifestyles of Cabinet members, the first-ever cuts to ministerial perks have taken place. Yesterday finance minister Tito Mboweni made some tentative first improvements to the Ministerial Handbook, which we welcome as a necessary cost saver - although it is still not quite enough.

The DA has been fighting since the Handbook was first launched in 2007 to slash wasteful spending of hard-earned taxpayer funds on luxury vehicles, business class travel, outrageous salaries, VIP security, and unnecessary international trips. We have long argued that ministers should be seen as humble public servants, rather than flashy political celebrities living the high life at taxpayer expense.

Being a minister is not an award for long-service, it is a critical role serving the people by steering South Africa through turbulent times.

Although it took a decade, it appears that Minister Mboweni has finally started to agree with us. But this only happened after the DA put up a sustained fight against any attempt to hoodwink the people of South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa initially introduced a new Ministerial Handbook on 8 June 2019. Despite his promises that the Handbook would cut back significantly on wastage, this initial version contained even more freebies for Cabinet fat cats. It is only after the DA raised the alarm that the government admitted that this “old-new” Handbook was a complete farce.

It is this uncompromising fight by the DA to stop wastage that has now resulted in a second revision of the Handbook in the space of just four months.

Although the government has so far failed to supply the DA with a full copy of the Handbook despite a PAIA request, Minister Mboweni yesterday announced some initial positive steps in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement:

The salaries of cabinet members, premiers and MECs will be frozen for the foreseeable future, with the likelihood of an adjustment downwards;

The cost of official cars will be capped at R700 000, inclusive of VAT;

All domestic travel will be in economy class;

There will no longer be payment for subsistence and travel for both domestic and international trips; and

A new cell phone dispensation will cap the amount claimable from the state.

We are however concerned that the speech delivered by Minister Mboweni yesterday differed from the written text of his speech. For example, he said that the limit on vehicles would be R800 000 instead of R700 000 as indicated in the written text and that there would be “consultation” about eliminating the use of tax money to pay for travel and subsistence. We hope that this does not mean that the backtracking has already started. We are further worried that the Minister was completely silent about other perks, like the fact that Ministers can employ an outrageous 15 staff members in their private offices and that former Ministers are entitled to free business class flights for life after their retirement.

We are further worried that the Minister was completely silent about other perks, like the fact that Ministers can employ an outrageous 15 staff members in their private offices and that former Ministers are entitled to free business class flights for life after their retirement. These perks do not apply in the DA-led Western Cape, and Minister Mboweni would do well to follow our example.

We now eagerly await the Department of Public Service and Administration complying with our PAIA request to obtain a full copy of the Ministerial Handbook. Once we receive it, we will study the Handbook in detail to confirm whether it indeed lives up to the tentative promises made by Minister Mboweni.

If it does, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the government complies with it. If it does not, we will keep fighting for as long as it takes to ensure that public money is not used to buy Porsches for politicians but to create prosperity for the people.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, 31 October 2019