Ramaphosa buckles under public pressure – no more free water, electricity for ministers

South Africa’s ministers and deputy ministers will no longer be getting municipal services, such as water and electricity, for free at their official residences.

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa withdrew his previous amendments to the ministerial handbook that changed the rules of Cabinet’s perks.

Exempt from paying for rates

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya on Monday said Ramaphosa had withdrawn the changes after the public expressed outrage at the politicians being exempt from paying for services.

“The president has listened. The president appreciates the public outcry in the context of economic socio pressures South Africans are facing. We can take heart in the fact that the President has ordered the withdrawal of this,” said Magwenya.

Earlier in October, reports alleged that Ramaphosa made the changes to the ministerial handbook in April.

ALSO READ: Ministers don’t have to pay a cent for water and electricity – report

The revision stated that the Department of Public Works would pay for the water and electricity at state-owned residences. This despite ministers earning R2.4 million a year and deputy ministers being paid R2 million a year.

Government officials previously had a R5 000 cap on municipal utilities.

Salary hikes

The decision by Ramaphosa came a few months after he announced salary hikes for politicians and other government officials.

The president said in June that the salaries would be increased by 3% and would be backdated to April 2021.

Despite the public outrage over the salary increases, Parliament said the hikes were necessary for the politicians to cope with the increase in the cost of living.

Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the criticism that the 3% salary increases were “tone deaf” was unfair because ministers, MPs, and MPLs last had salary increases in April 2019.

ALSO READ: Poor SA MPs need increases to their R1,1 million salaries to cope with cost of living, says Parliament

DA ultimatum

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday issued an ultimatum to Ramaphosa to scrap the ministerial handbook.

The DA said if the president did not replace the ministerial handbook, it would join civil society organisations and march to Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria. Bryntirion Estate is the official residence of the president, vice president, and many cabinet ministers.

DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration Leon Schreiber said the party has already laid a complaint with the public protector over the apparent fact that there is no law that provides for the existence of the ministerial handbook.

“In our view, it is also clearly inconsistent with the constitution that the president can hide his milking of taxpayers from parliament. But Ramaphosa need not wait for the public protector to make a finding. It should be obvious to him that the public does not accept his government’s lame excuses for why the president should have dictatorial powers over this handbook.”

NOW READ: DA warns Ramaphosa to scrap ministerial handbook or they’ll march to minister’s homes

Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe and Faizel Patel