Officials living in the lap of luxury...

Published Feb 6, 2005

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By Fred Kockott

Two KwaZulu-Natal MECs, at least three senior Inkatha Freedom Party officials and other people unknown to the department of works continue to live, some of them rent-free, in luxurious state-serviced and fully furnished “ministerial homes” in Ulundi.

They also enjoy, at taxpayers' expense, free security, gardening, landscaping, general maintenance and domestic services, plus free electricity and water.

According to an itemised account from the Department of Works, this is at a cost of about R10 850 a house each month.

The MECs in question are Blessed Gwala (Public Works) and Nkosi Nyanga Ngubane (Social Welfare), both of whom earn at least R584 707 a year.

Other Inkatha Freedom Party officials enjoying the ministerial comforts are KwaZulu-Natal legislature's former speaker, Nkosi Bongani Mdletshe, former Public Works MEC the Rev C J Mthethwa, and the recently suspended, but now reinstated head of Public Works, Edmund Radebe.

According to the parliamentary watchdog, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), KwaZulu-Natal's public coffers have been drained by millions of rands (the total figure has not yet quantified) through former political governors of the province - all IFP MECs - living in the lap of luxury at the ministerial complex over the past 10 years. Documents before Scopa show that while former premier Lionel Mtshali and one other MEC paid R2 000 rent a month, other MECs paid as little as R200 to R600 monthly.

After investigating the matter, Scopa declared in November 2003 that the exceptionally low rentals and free domestic municipal services flouted conditions of occupancy of ministerial residences, as determined by the Ministerial Handbook. This led to a Scopa resolution that misspent money on domestic and municipal services, plus arrear rentals (at a market-related value), be recovered from existing and former MECs in question dating back to 1994.

However, no action has yet been taken by the Department of Works and Scopa is concerned that the issue of who now lives in the 15 ministerial houses and at what rental, if any, is not formally regulated.

This was clearly evident during a visit to Ulundi this week.

A Johannesburg job seeker told the Sunday Tribune that she had stayed in one of the ministerial houses with colleagues who had moved in after a former MEC had vacated the complex. She said she had been shocked to learn that obtaining a ministerial house was simply a matter of having the “right connections”.

“It seems people continually moving in and out are simply given the keys by former MECs,” she said. She added that a similar situation existed at Ulundi's Legislation Flats, where only 15 of the 80 fashionable duplexes, originally allocated to MPLs, were legally occupied.

Escorting the Sunday Tribune around the ministerial complex, the acting regional manager of Public Works, J B Dlamini, confirmed that his department was responsible for the complex, but could not state who all the occupants were.

“The use of the houses is controlled at a level above officials like myself, so it's not easy for me to ascertain who is living in which house, whether any rentals are paid, or what the plans for the complex are,” said Dlamini.

The issue of the ministerial houses is now to be addressed at the next Scopa meeting in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday.

MEC Gwala is expected at the meeting.

Having only been appointed to the public works portfolio in April last year, Gwala faces the tough task of addressing many other problems besides the scandal surrounding the ministerial homes and Legislation Flats, said Scopa chairman, Jo-Ann Downs.

Gwala himself also talks of having inherited a department that “operates like a headless chicken”, devoid of sound leadership.

On his decision to remain a resident at the Ulundi ministerial complex, Gwala said, “If I am given a ministerial house in Pietermaritzburg, I can go and stay there, but the work of the minister is all over the province, so it does not matter where I live.”

Gwala said he paid R2 000 rental for the ministerial house in Ulundi and personally paid for his travel costs to and from Pietermaritzburg.

For his part, Ngubane said he lived rent-free at the ministerial complex. He said this was in line with a national policy that “ministers be provided with a house free of charge, and associated perks in a capital of their choice”.

Although Ulundi is no longer a capital of the province, Ngubane said he had not yet moved because he was still looking for appropriate office premises in Pietermaritzburg.

Ngubane dismissed Scopa's resolution that arrears in rental owed by MECs be recovered.

“This matter has been dealt with by cabinet. There is no one owing money,” said Ngubane. However, Downs disagrees.

“We are going to ensure full recovery... (from) existing and former MECs who owe arrears in market-related rentals, plus misspent money on domestic and municipal services,” said Downs. She added that this was a unanimous resolution, supported by all parties on Scopa, including former KwaZulu-Natal premier and IFP national chairman, Lionel Mtshali.

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