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PERKS: Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa was booked to stay in hotels by his staff, who said ministerial handbook guidelines permitted it. The revised handbook remains unfinalised. Graphic: Sithembile Mtolo

Marianne Merten

TRADITIONALLY, the president’s State of the Nation address at the opening of Parliament marks the official start of the new year in government and sets out priorities, plans and policy direction, later fleshed out by ministers.

But the unfinished business of 2011 will be difficult to ignore this year when President Jacob Zuma opens Parliament on February 9, with key governance structures such as the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit and the police all without a permanent head.

Another item of unfinished business is the revised ministerial handbook.

In the making for more than two-and-a-half years, it remains in the government’s in-tray and there appears to be no hurry to finalise it – unlike the speed with which the Scorpions were disbanded through a defective law that has yet to be fixed and the apparent determination to pass the Protection of State Information Bill.

The handbook sets out guidelines on the perks national and provincial members of the executive are entitled to.

In other words, it sets out how much taxpayers pay for the privileges of The Presidency, premiers and national and provincial ministers – alongside rules of good governance.

The current version, passed in 2007, is widely seen as out of date, particularly after the Finance Ministry’s calls in 2009 for belt-tightening by departments.

The public protector, after various investigations into executive compliance with the handbook, suggested it should include rates for hotel accommodation and subsistence allowances to avoid misspending.

The revisions were initiated after the 2009 elections amid a public outcry as the new crop of ministers went shopping for luxury cars.

Zuma was quoted as saying the cabinet would “address public concerns that government is living large while citizens are feeling the pain caused by the economic downturn”.

Revisions were meant to be completed within a year, or as then Public Service Minister Richard Baloyi promised, before the 2010 World Cup. Eighteen months after that date, the new handbook remains under wraps. Word now is that by mid-2012 a special inter-ministerial task team would have completed studying the draft and various recommendations before submitting it to the cabinet for final approval.

The delay comes despite public outrage over ministerial car hire running into millions of rand, even though ministers each have official cars in Pretoria and Cape Town, and revelations of a Public Works tender for free-for-all- arrangements in their rent-free homes in Cape Town or Pretoria.

This comes after news that ministers spent hundreds of thousands of rand on luxury hotel accommodation which, in the case of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, was booked by his staff, who said the guidelines permitted it.

Other ministers, such as Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who heads Agriculture, Roy Padayachie, in charge of Public Service and Administration, and ex- Co-operative Governance minister Sicelo Shiceka, claimed they had been forced to stay in hotels because Public Works had failed to provide reasonable accommodation at the official ministerial complexes.

The current ministerial handbook is, in many ways, extremely detailed. It says ministers may buy a car valued at up to 70 percent of their gross R1.9 million-a- year salary, or R1.49m in the case of deputy ministers.

It says the government garage will transport ministers’ children to and from school within a radius of 15km of their homes.

And, while no subsistence allowance is payable for domestic travel, reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, but not alcohol, will be reimbursed: “If possible, receipts should substantiate claims.”

But the ministerial handbook is silent on the details that underpin good governance and conduct.

It does not set out permissible scales of hotel or car-hire rates and is vague on the definition of relatives, spouses or life partners who are entitled to free domestic flights and other benefits.

Such vagueness has led to abuse.

The public protector in various probes found ministers’ offices could not produce documents for expenses or bookings. Flights were booked for people not registered as dependants.

And while Shiceka claimed he had presidential approval for a trip to Switzerland, ostensibly to inspect European football tournament arrangements, the public protector found it had been a ruse to visit a girlfriend jailed there.

Officially, the revised ministerial handbook has made its way from the Public Service and Administration ministry to the cabinet, which last June referred to it as “a matter of urgency”, to the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.

The commission then recommended, among others, that car allocations be cut to 60 percent of the official salary and a ban on five-star hotel stays.

The handbook was sent back to the ministry, which mooted publication for public comment during Public Service Week in September, but this didn’t happen.

Instead, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane reportedly said revisions would be made public “soon”.

In November, government spokesman Jimmy Manyi said the cabinet still had to finalise the draft. Then the cabinet reshuffle brought a new Public Service and Administration minister.

Perhaps the new deadline of mid-2012 for cabinet approval and, hopefully, subsequent publication, will be met.