Civil society organisations and Cosatu have slammed a move by the government to give more benefits to ministers and deputy ministers regarding their bills for electricity and water.
CIVIL society organisations and Cosatu have slammed a move by the government to give more benefits to ministers and deputy ministers regarding their bills for electricity and water.
According to the previous Ministerial Handbook of rules for ministers and deputy ministers, the amount of taxpayers’ money that went to pay for water and electricity at official ministerial residences was capped at R5,000 per month per house.
However, the latest version of the Ministerial Handbook, published on April 13, 2022, shows that the cap on the amount has been removed.
The DA spokesperson on public service and administration, Dr Leon Schreiber, said that in the new Ministerial Handbook, President Cyril Ramaphosa had scrapped the provision that previously capped the amount of money that taxpayers would pay.
“Each of Ramaphosa’s 28 ministers and 35 deputy ministers are entitled to two taxpayer-funded official residences: one in Pretoria and one in Cape Town. In terms of Ramaphosa’s new handout to his fellow cadres, taxpayers will now be forced to pay for every drop of water and every watt of electricity used at these 126 official residences.”
Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the trade union federation was shocked by the reports.
“This is shameful and scandalous considering that millions of poor people are struggling with the escalating cost of living. It is extremely insensitive for this administration to cushion the members of the executive, while expecting extreme sacrifices from the workers and the unemployed.
“Budget cuts have collapsed service delivery and the government is currently offering workers a well-below the inflation rate salary adjustment.”
Pamla added that this came at a time when the country was facing ongoing load shedding and excessive tariff hikes for electricity.
“These are the same people who have mismanaged the power utility into the ground over the past 16 years, and this has seen consumers being subjected to continuous double-digit and above inflation electricity tariffs hikes. This is the very same executive that has mismanaged the water crisis, leading to water shedding and water restrictions.
“South African Cabinet members are among the highest paid in the world, and they lead one of the most unequal countries with some of the poorest people in the world. More than 16 million South Africans struggle to have three meals a day and 22 million of them are on social welfare,” Pamla said.
Mervyn Abrahams, programme co-ordinator of the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, said the move was unfair to consumers.
“There is no justification for ministers and deputies to be exempt from electricity bills. They are receiving high salaries and other free services while poor South Africans are struggling with low wages and the rising cost of living, and now they have to pay for the electricity account bills of politicians.”
Omhle Ntshingila, of the Right 2 Protest Project, agreed that there was nothing that warranted Cabinet ministers being exempt from paying for basic services.
“Their lifestyles and those of their families are made the responsibility of citizens already burdened with high inequality and barely making ends meet. All this tax revenue could easily be transferred to other more important government interventions.
“Citizens have a right to voice their unhappiness about this ridiculous exemption. This is an oversight of Parliament, not the governing party alone. All parties are responsible for the misuse of taxpayers’ money.”
Xolani Dube, a political analyst at the Xubera Institute for Research and Development, said citizens were allowing politicians to do as they please.
“Ministers and their deputies already have so many benefits. We as the taxpayers are paying for their accommodation, hotel stays and now we are being double-taxed to pay for their electricity bills.
“It’s really sad that poor members of the public are forced to deal with the soaring cost of living and now have to pay for Cabinet ministers’ electricity bills. How are they expected to cope? They are breadwinners, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and they are funding the lives of the elite politicians.”
Dube added that the public needed to take up the matter.
“This country was built on the sacrifice of ordinary people, not politicians. It’s the people of this country who should be raising it for debate. The ministers and the deputies are public servants and should be serving the people of South Africa.”
The Department of Public Service and Administration could not be reached for comment.
