A flicker of good news in a dark, wet week was the release of the updated ministerial handbook, notwithstanding the 45-minute late arrival of public service & administration minister Senzo Mchunu to release the document, or his patronising commentary while doing so.
The ministerial handbook has historically been the proverbial get-out-of-jail-free card for ministers caught overindulging in the excesses of high office.
It has taken years to update the document and President Cyril Ramaphosa had to send it back to be reworked after the cuts in benefits it contained were initially insufficient. The handbook essentially outlines the benefits for ministers and deputy ministers once they have taken their oath of office.
Perhaps it was the timing of the release of the document which rendered Mchunu’s description of the new provisions contained in the handbook as "sacrifices" by ministers infuriating.
It was released on the day Eskom announced stage 6 load-shedding, hitting consumers and business hard and culminating in the closure of several mines. It followed on the heels of SAA being placed in business rescue last week, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA being placed under "administration" and Stats SA announcing that the economy contracted by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2019.
At the same time, the fightback faction of the ANC is regrouping and on the march again against Ramaphosa as the criminal justice system kicks into gear, making politically significant arrests.
Taxpayers will continue to foot the bill for ministerial cars, but these will now be capped at R700,000. No more sneaky Nkandla-style "security upgrades" to ministers’ private residences — they will now have to foot the bill for these themselves.
No more sneaky Nkandla-style ‘security upgrades’ to ministers’ private residences
Your hard-earned cash will no longer be spent on two ministerial residences but one: should a minister want a second home, they would have to pay for it from their own pockets. Their cellphone bills will be limited to R60,000 a year and they will have to fly economy class on domestic and international flights not exceeding two hours.
Flights for spouses will be limited to six domestic flights a year, and additional provisions for travel will be limited to 20, from 30, economy tickets a year for members and their spouses.
Taxpayers still getting a raw deal
Government will no longer pay for reading material and gratuities for ministers and their spouses (yes, we paid for it in the past). All benefits will be terminated a month after a member leaves office.
While it is still unpalatable for the taxpayer to foot the bill for a R700,000 car for ministers and their deputies, the cap is an improvement on the past. It used to be up to the value of 70% of their salaries. Ministers typically earn about R2.4m a year.
Security upgrades, which were capped at R100,000 for MECs and R250,000 for ministers, have now been removed completely.
Unpalatable, especially when many ministers seem completely out of their depth in dealing with the severe challenges facing the country. Still, the curb on benefits is welcome — but has yet to be extended to mayors and, even more critically, public servants.
Public servants are the single biggest drain on the fiscus, and this does not mean the headcount in the public service is too high. Rather, revealed Mchunu, salaries have soared from slightly over R200bn in 2006/2007 to over R500bn in 2018/2019. Over the same period the headcount swelled from 1.1-million to just 1.2-million. This explains finance minister Tito Mboweni lamenting that the number of public servants earning over R1m had doubled since 2006/2007, up to 29,000.
At the same time, services are collapsing, the country finds itself in the dark for large swathes of the day, water infrastructure is collapsing due to a lack of maintenance, there is very little accountability when crisis hits and citizens are literally manhandled by the very public servants meant to serve — as seen in a video depicting Tshwane metro police officers manhandling a woman after she drove to a lit-up garage when she was pulled over.
Cuts to ministerial benefits are welcome, but hardly overshadow the fact that SA taxpayers are still getting a raw deal.
It is a pretty bleak picture and shows that Mchunu’s "sacrifices" are nothing more than window dressing.
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