Public Protector must investigate Ministers who abuse VIP bodyguards

21 September 2015

Weekend reports that bodyguards tasked with protecting Cabinet Ministers are expected to work ridiculously long hours while waiting at night clubs, to drive at dangerously high speeds, and to do jobs – like pushing trolleys in malls or babysitting children - that fall way out of their ambit of responsibility, are nothing short of scandalous.

The DA will today request the Public Protector to investigate the Ministers and Deputy Ministers who have reportedly abused their bodyguards by demanding they perform such tasks, which are not only abusive to the bodyguards, but which amount to an abuse of taxpayer-funded resources.

The Executive Members’ Ethics Act which confers on the Public Protector the power to investigate alleged violations of the Executive Ethics Code, at the request of Members of National and Provincial Legislatures.

Section 2.1 of the Executive Ethics Code stipulates that members of Cabinet must:

(c) act in good faith and in the best interest of good governance; and

(d) act in all respects in a manner that is consistent with the integrity of their office or the government.

Cabinet Ministers cannot be allowed to flagrantly and arrogantly abuse these VIP bodyguards who are there to protect them while discharging their official functions.

The Sunday Times reported that:

The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula, parties till all hours of the morning and expects his“bodyguards sleep outside his house as there is no time to go home and rest before the morning shift.”;

The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Joyce Mabudafhasi, expects her protector to drive her almost 450kms, from Pretoria to Venda, most weekends;

The Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla, is “said to take keys from the protectors and drives himself in their presence at high speeds.”; and

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana, has reportedly “fired more than five bodyguards in just over a year and parties till all hours of the morning.” These bodyguards were, no doubt, fired because they refused to perform these tasks which actually fall outside of their ambit. 

Additionally, one Deputy Minister is accused of taking the keys and driving at high speeds and endangering himself, the protectors in the vehicle and ordinary motorists. The same unnamed Deputy Minister is also accused of hitting a bodyguard over the head.

The protectors have complained that they are suffering fatigue from having to carry out their demanding official functions - and that this exhaustion is compounded when they are expected to protect Ministers and Deputy Ministers who expect them to guard them till all hours of the morning while partying.

The DA will also be submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister of Police to ascertain and what will be done to ensure that these government employees are not intimidated or abused at the whim of Ministers.

While the DA  has always proposed a cap for a rapidly ballooning VIP Protection Unit, the men and women who are employed by the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) deserve humane working conditions – and cannot be treated like glorified handbag holders. They too are South African human beings who are deserving of the dignity and working conditions which should be afforded to all people.

These Ministers and Deputy Ministers must be investigated for such gross and disgraceful abuse of state resources and for what smells like a series of violations of labour practice.

Statement issued by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 21 September 2015