The KwaZulu-Natal cabinet has approved a maintenance package for the Ulundi house of IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi in his capacity as chairperson of the provincial house of traditional leaders - which only sits once every year - despite the fact that he has two official residences.
The plan, which will be back-dated to 1995 when Buthelezi was elected to the post, cost the taxpayer nearly R500 000 over only seven months in 1999.
Buthelezi told The Independent on Saturday on Friday that the approval of his maintenance services "is being done by government. I don't see how I get involved. I am not a corrupt person by nature".
Buthelezi said he paid R4 000 a month for his Cape Town house, while the state picked up the tab for his Pretoria home.
He said he was the only homeland leader who handed over money to the new government, describing as "offensive" the impression being created that he was "milking" the government.
"I have never tried to get things for myself."
Buthelezi said his KwaPhindangene home belonged to the Buthelezi tribal authority, which had never charged the government a cent for it.
"I maintain it myself, except for landscaping," he said.
He described as "rubbish" claims that the government maintained his walk-in freezer and airconditioners, saying "there is only one airconditioner in my bedroom and it's been out of order for more than a year".
Services rendered by FAZ Facilities Management on the home cost R414 411,60 between May and November 1999.
They included weed and pollution control, landscape rehabilitation, maintenance of the pool, paving, irrigation and maintenance of plants by the spreading of river sand.
Buthelezi's new maintenance package includes the landscaping, maintenance of his cold room and airconditioners, provision of security guards and building maintenance like electrical wiring and repairs to windows.
He will be the only provincial chairperson of the house of traditional leaders in the country to receive maintenance services. Mpiyezintombi Mzimela, the chairperson of the national house of traditional leaders, does not get maintenance services.
"I only receive travel and sitting allowances," said Mzimela.
Both the chairperson of the Eastern Cape house of traditional leaders, Mwelo Nonkonyana, and the Northern Province's Fhumulani Kutama, said all they were getting were sitting and travel allowances.
"The government does not maintain my house. We do that on our own," said Kutama, with Nonkonyana complaining that he did not even have a secretary.
On two occasions, the provincial auditor-general's has reported that "services rendered by the state to a private residence situated at KwaPhindangene and occupied by a minister have not yet been disposed of".
Maintenance services at Buthelezi's house were not discontinued when he ceased to be chief minister of the old KwaZulu government to take up the post of minister of home affairs in 1994, thus qualifying for official residences in Pretoria and Cape Town.
Under pressure from the legislature to explain why his department was still maintaining Buthelezi's house, Celani Mtetwa, the provincial public works minister, held a meeting with relevant government officials last week to see how the matter could be resolved.
This culminated in a memorandum to cabinet by the provincial department of traditional and local government affairs proposing the maintenance services should continue, back-dated to when Buthelezi was appointed as chairperson of traditional leaders in 1995 - the year he forfeited them.
In its memorandum, the department of local government said Buthelezi was the traditional prime minister in terms of Act 7 of 1994, which established the house of traditional leaders.
"It is appropriate that the chairperson/traditional prime minister has appropriate support in Ulundi ... Should the chairperson not be resident in Ulundi (the seat of the house), it would be necessary for the province to pay subsistence allowance to the chairperson when in that town for the business of the house."
"This would be over and above the obvious administrative and secretarial support. It would be difficult to quantify what this would cost," the memorandum said.
Robin Raubenheimer, acting head of the traditional and local government affairs, said it was "perfectly reasonable" for his department - which will foot the maintenance bill - to give Buthelezi certain support for using his private house for official purposes.
"The man contributes so much to peace in the province. He is heading an organ of the provincial legislature," Raubenheimer said.
Mark Lowe of the Democratic Alliance said Buthelezi's maintenance costs seemed incredibly high. The party would refer the matter the national cabinet for clarity.
"A cursory look seems to suggest that it is unfair to allocate the full expenditure to the provincial taxpayer. We are talking about thousands of rands and the house meets very infrequently. We need a value-for-money audit and a province-by-province assessment to see if other people get this."
Sam Nxumalo of the United Democratic Movement said Buthelezi should be financed by the national government and not singled out when other traditional leaders' private houses were not subsidised by the state.