Pretoria – Cosatu has added its voice to the uproar over revelations that members of the executive, including Cabinet ministers and their deputies, do not pay for electricity and water while living in official residences owned by the state.
In a politically turbulent week, where it has also been confirmed that the official residences of members of the executive are exempt from load shedding, the trade union federation said it was time for the bigwigs to foot the bill for water and electricity used by their families.
“The Ministerial Handbook is a piece of paper for bureaucratic compliance but it doesn’t mean it is ethically right or it is morally correct. It is just political madness. Our ministers are paid a huge amount of money. They are paid about R2.5 million per year, about R200 000 per month. Surely, they can afford to cough up a thousand rand to pay for their electricity bills like the rest of society,” Cosatu parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks told SABC News.
“It really is just politically insensitive and it comes against a backdrop where government has allowed Eskom, in different administrations, to be run into the ground.”
On Tuesday, the Department of Public Service and Administration clarified that official residences, where Cabinet ministers and their deputies stay, are exempt from the bouts of load shedding implemented by struggling power utility Eskom.
“Remember, just like the president’s residence is a national key point, those residences, because of the fact that they host members of the executive, they also become national key points.
“The risk of load shedding for those properties is eliminated,” departmental spokesperson Moses Mushi told Newzroom Afrika.
“Ministers, at their private residences, still get load shedding. Security around our executives needs to always be protected.”
Mushi also confirmed that Cabinet ministers and their deputies did not pay for utilities like water and electricity while living at the official residences.
“Yes, it is true. The reason for that is because the residences occupied by members of the executive are official residences.
“The members do have their own homes in whatever province they might be coming from, where they continue to pay for their water and electricity. They are appointed at the pleasure of the president and are expected to work in Pretoria,” he said.
While in Pretoria, the members of the executive are “available to serve the nation”, he said.
Founding secretary-general of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) Zwelinzima Vavi has expressed “disgust” over government’s explanation on the provision of free water and electricity to members of the executive living at state-owned residences.
“We are disgusted, but we are not, however, surprised. We are in the situation of the Animal Farm. If you look at the statement of the government, it is the most worrying statement we will ever come across.
“Basically, the government says we are not providing these free water and electricity services to people residing in their private residences, but we are providing to those we are also giving free houses,” said Vavi.
“The houses are provided by the taxpayer and (the government is saying) we feel that there is nothing with us giving them free houses, free electricity, free water, free rates that the municipality would have demanded if these were just ordinary people. And they see nothing wrong.”
He said it was ridiculous for government, in that same statement, to urge the South African public to pay for the services.
Reacting to weekend newspaper reports, the government issued a statement clarifying that “as stipulated in the Ministerial Handbook, which contains guidelines for members of the executive, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) is responsible for the costs associated with the provision of water and electricity to any state-owned residence”.
Government spokesperson Phumla Williams said the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure was bound by government prescripts to accommodate members of the executive.
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