Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA is challenging the legality of the Ministerial Handbook, which prescribes the perks members of the national and provincial executives receive, in a complaint to the Public Protector.
This week, it emerged President Cyril Ramaphosa quietly approved a new version of the Ministerial Handbook in April.
In the 2019 Ministerial Handbook, the state would pick up a bill for water and electricity of up to R5 000 at members of the executive’s official residences, and if the bill is higher, the member would have to pay for it themselves.
The April 2022 iteration removes this limit, meaning the state will pay the full bill for ministers, deputy ministers, premiers and MECs, whatever it may be.
After a public outcry, the government responded on Monday with a statement saying, as stipulated by the Ministerial Handbook, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure was responsible for the costs associated with the provision of water and electricity to any state-owned residence.
“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is bound by government prescripts to accommodate members of the executive.
“The Department of Public Service and Administration sets out the provisions in the Ministerial Handbook. These provisions are part of the package that comes with being a member of the executive as they are living in state-owned houses in service of the country,” said government spokesperson Phumla Williams in the statement.
“Ministers and deputy ministers pay for the usage of electricity and water at their private residences. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure pays for the usage of water and electricity of state-owned buildings, such as official residences.”
DA MP Leon Schreiber took the statement as an indication Ramaphosa’s government had “no intention of listening to the public or the DA by scrapping these provisions”.
Noting ministers are already paid R2.4 million per year, Schreiber said: “Forcing South Africans to pay the private electricity and water bills for the very same ministers who have robbed citizens of access to these critical services is a slap in the face that the people will not accept.
“Not only are we challenging this latest set of handouts to ANC cadres, but our complaint to the Public Protector challenges the legality of the Ministerial Handbook in its entirety.”
According to Schreiber, the DA’s research suggested there was no law that provided for the existence of the Ministerial Handbook.
“While the handbook – formally entitled the ‘Guide for Members of the Executive’ – notes that ‘members are required at all times to ensure compliance with the Executive Ethics Code’, there is no provision in the code or in any other law allowing for the existence of a handbook that gives the president dictatorial powers to force taxpayers to pay for the perks of Cabinet members,” he said.
“The handbook, therefore, appears to exist ultra vires – outside of the Constitution and the law.”
Schreiber said this was why Ramaphosa could secretly amend the handbook without even informing Parliament.
“In fact, because there is no law at all governing the existence of the handbook, Parliament has no authority to exercise oversight or approve the contents of the handbook. The president is completely unaccountable for the way in which he forces taxpayers to fund the ANC gravy train.”
He added the DA wanted Parliament to decide on cases where certain benefits, such as security measures or transport for official duties, might be warranted.
“Should the Public Protector confirm that the Ministerial Handbook is indeed unlawful in its entirety, it would mean that Ramaphosa and all of his ANC predecessors have for decades illegally taken hundreds of millions of rand from taxpayers in order to fund the luxury lifestyles of multi-millionaire cadres,” said Schreiber.
He added the DA was determined to scrap the Ministerial Handbook altogether.
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