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Former South African ministers and their partners have obtained free flights, totaling tens of millions of rand, at the expense of taxpayers.
According to a report by sunday timeSouth African taxpayers have spent R45.3 million since 2014 on business class flights for these former political officials.
DA politician Leon Schreiber said By July 2020, parliament had spent more than R36 million on business-class domestic flights for retired ministers, vice ministers and their spouses, including some who operated during apartheid.
“This information has not previously been made public, and the Prosecutor’s Office only obtained it after months of cajoling Parliament to comply with a request for the Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA),” said Schreiber.
“Even more shocking is that the amount of money wasted on these retired cadres has steadily increased since 2013, when Parliament spent R3.8 million on flights for retired ministers, MPs and their spouses,” he said.
“By 2018/2019, the first year of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, this figure had tripled to R9.3 million.”
Following a request from the DA, the parliament has revealed that some 200 former ministers and MPs, as well as their partners, benefited from flights worth 18 million rand between April 2018 and March 2020.
“With over 10 million South Africans trapped in unemployment by the ANC, and millions more at risk of unemployment and poverty as a result of the ANC closure crisis, it is simply inconceivable that the people of South Africa should continue to pay millions for the plane . establishing lifestyles of the same retired cadres that unleashed so many difficulties in our country ”, said Schreiber.
Taxpayer-Funded Business Class Flights
A recent Netwerk24 report It highlighted prominent figures who had benefited from these taxpayer-funded flights, including several politicians with ties to the controversial Gupta family.
For example, the report said that between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2020, the parliament’s travel agency spent 685,657 rand on air tickets for former Transport Minister Ben Martins and his wife.
Former Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson racked up a bill of R443,850, while former Vice Minister of Commerce and Industry Mzwandile Masina booked plane tickets worth R299,818 for him and his wife during this period.
Notable recipients of taxpayer-funded flights are listed below:
| Former Minister / Vice Minister / President | Amount spent |
|---|---|
| Des van Rooyen | 24,991.18 R2 |
| Faith muthambi | 16,833.62 R2 |
| Barbara hogan | $ 15,291.59 |
| Trevor manuel | 187,544.91 R |
| Dina pula | 125,919.53 R |
| Mcebisi Jonas | 120,921.90 |
| Siphiwe nyanda | 115,940.50 R |
| Roelof Meyer | 98,559.46 R |
| Fikile mbalula | R71,297.90 |
| Mosiuoa Lekota | R61,854.00 |
| Adriaan vlok | 59,447.32 R |
| Yunus Carrim | 42,047.52 R |
| Marthinus van Schalkwyk | 29,695.66 R |
| Titus Mboweni | R 28,436.18 |
| Nomachule Gigaba | 26,733.42 R |
| Malusi Gigaba | 19,249.44 R |
| Maria ramos | 10,007.22 R |
New rules take South Africans for fools – DA
The continuation of these free business class flights comes despite the ministerial manual being revised in 2019 to exclude this benefit for former ministers, from which nearly R10 million have reportedly been spent on these flights.
This means that the flights paid for by the government for former ministers after the review are technically contrary to the rules of parliament.
Schreiber argued in December 2019 that these changes to the manual were designed to “take the people of South Africa for fools.”
“In fact, the only positive changes to the manual that are even worth mentioning is that the state will no longer pay for security upgrades in the private homes of ministers, and the limit (though still too high) of R700,000 on vehicles for our millionaire ministers, ”said Schreiber.
“The rest of the manual is effectively a cover-up trying to disguise the obscene benefits that the ANC is still pouring out on its cadres.”
Plan to save the economy
This report comes weeks after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni gave his Medium-term budget speech in which he said the South African economy is forecast to decline 7.8% this year.
To deal with this financial problem and avoid a sovereign debt crisis, Mboweni laid out a five-year plan that he said promotes economic growth and will control South Africa’s debt.
According to Mboweni, this strategy will reduce the primary deficit of the main budget from R266 billion in 2021/22 to R84 billion in 2023/24, with a surplus forecast for 2025/26.
The key to this is to target public sector funding, including a pay freeze for the next three years.
However, South Africa it fell deeper into the junk state on Friday.
Moody’s cut South Africa’s local and foreign currency ratings to Ba2, which is two notches below investment grade, while Fitch cut the country’s ratings to three notches below investment grade.
“The key factor behind the downgrade to Ba2 is the further expected weakening of South Africa’s fiscal strength in the medium term,” Moody’s said in a statement.
“The pandemic has severely affected South Africa’s economic growth and GDP is expected to remain below 2019 levels even into 2022,” Fitch said.
Now Read: South Africa Descends Deeper Into Junk State
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