Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has been urged to get rid of 37 deputy ministers as a cost-cutting measure.
Zuma has been called on to emulate his counterparts in the US, UK and other African states who have fewer or no deputy ministers.
Paul Kaseke, of the law school at Wits University, said the state was spending R70.3 million a year paying 37 deputy ministers.
He was backed by Professor Amanda Gouws, of the politics department at Stellenbosch University, who said yesterday deputy ministers did not improve policy implementation. A deputy minister earns R1.9m a year.
Gouws said it was an unusual situation to have so many deputy ministers.
“The deputy ministers are there so that you have them to be trained to be ministers once the ministers leave their portfolios.”
Kaseke said R70.3m paid to deputy ministers a year could be saved for other projects.
The figure could be much higher if other benefits were included.
Each deputy minister owns a house in Pretoria and Cape Town, and a car for each of the two cities.
Deputy ministers do not have executive powers, don’t sit in cabinet meetings and cannot act on behalf of their boss.
This is not allowed by the constitution.
Earlier this year, the president increased salaries for MPs and ministers following the recommendations of the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.