Fat-cat MPs ‘no’ to cuts
As rest of SA battles hard times, elected representatives insist their perks must stay
●Pampered MPs, who enjoy taxpayer sponsored freebies and perks that would make the average South African green with envy, warned this week that they will resist any attempt to trim their generous benefits.
And some of them insist they deserve even more gravy — on top of their free flights, accommodation and meals, and alongside salaries that range from R1.2m to R2.4m, depending on the position they hold in parliament.
News of looming cuts to their perks was met with outrage from MPs, after it emerged that parliament will spend an extra R111m in “loss of office” gratuities to give generous golden handshakes to 159 MPs who failed to return to parliament after the May 8 elections.
The “loss of office” benefits are the equivalent of four months’ salary for every fiveyear term completed, and are paid over and above normal pension benefits. Critics have dubbed the payouts “a tip from the struggling taxpayer”.
The benefits are far more generous than those offered to thousands of workers who have lost their jobs in the private sector, and who generally get one week’s pay for every year worked.
But some MPs will not tolerate any cuts.
“We would not want any commission that would want to take away benefits for members,” said outspoken ANC MP Peace Mabe, co-chair of the committee on the financial management of parliament.
“For us just to be here, we’ve left comforts of our homes to come and serve the country,” she said.
“If there’s a commission to be set, it should be about enhancing what we have currently because we’re also not satisfied with what we have.
“So anything that suggests to take away benefits, we object to it before you can even start talking about it,” she said.
The news that members of the executive and MPs could forfeit some of their benefits was broken to stunned legislators this week by Vusi Mavuso, the divisional head for members’ support services, during a meeting of the joint standing committee on the financial management of parliament.
It is not clear which benefits will be done away with but the “loss of office gratuity” is the most controversial among MPs, and might be abolished altogether.
Mavuso also revealed that the taxpayer is splurging R120m a year on airline tickets for “approximately 2,000” current and former MPs, ministers and their dependants, including children and spouses.
Mavuso said the independent commission for remuneration of public office bearers had proposed to parliament that some of the benefits of MPs and ministers should be curtailed in view of the state of the economy and the shrinking public purse.
“The commission has actually come with an approach that says that there must be some kind of changes and review of some of the things that are being offered to members, given the context, the economic situation that we find ourselves in as a country,” said Mavuso. “So there could be some substantial amendments to some of the service.
“I thought I should alert you members about that because, as part and parcel of the task team that would engage with the commission, such matters really might be of a serious nature.”
He did not provide details, but Peter Makapan, the head of the remuneration commission secretariat, confirmed that a review of the remuneration regime and benefits of MPs and ministers is under way.
“The commission is currently undertaking the review of remuneration, benefits and tools of trade for POBs [public office bearers] within the executive and legislative sector,” he said.
“Once the project is finalised the report will be submitted to the president and thereafter published for public consumption,” said Makapan. The last meeting the commission had with the parliamentary task team was on March 29, he said.
Independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the remuneration commission was taking the right step by reviewing the salaries and benefits of politicians.
He said the commission could even go a step further and introduce a moratorium for several years on the salaries of ministers and MPs.
“Already they are remunerated way above inflation anyway,” Mathekga said. “If you start calculating those benefits, they are very extensive.
“They cannot want to live like people who are in the private sector and responsible to shareholders. For me they can make a very moral statement that says we are not taking these, we are sympathising with everybody through the hardships.
“It’s the right step, they need to review … these people are already high, they are in the top tier of the public service.”
Mathekga said it was a shame that some MPs were already objecting to the commission’s attempts to reduce their benefits.
“They must be ashamed of saying such things and this is where they lose moral position in society because if you go tell [trade union] Nehawu that they should demand less wages because government is under pressure, you yourself already have a very high base.”
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said he was not ready to comment on details he was not familiar with. The EFF could not be
reached for comment.
Taxpayers spend a fortune for the upkeep of MPs, ministers and deputy ministers.
This year it emerged that the government set aside R750m in the 2019/2020 financial year to spruce up the Union Buildings, houses of MPs in Cape Town and those of ministers in Cape Town and Pretoria.
On top of the 84 free flights a year that each of the 400 serving MPs and ministers receive, they enjoy heavily subsided threecourse meals and liquor.
The car/travel allowance for MPs is R120,000 a year, or R10,000 a month.
They also get taxpayer-sponsored phones, tablets and laptops.
They park for free at all airports across SA and are shuttled by bus daily from their parliamentary villages to parliament — on top of the vehicle allowances they enjoy.
Parliament’s spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, confirmed the payment of loss-of-office gratuities. He said this would not affect the operations of parliament that have been budgeted for as the money will be claimed from the National Revenue Fund as a direct charge in terms of the Financial Management of Parliament Act.
“[There’s] no impact on parliament’s operations as the gratuities are part of direct charges from [the fund].
“A request has been made to the Treasury regarding this.”