Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor has called for lifestyle audits to be conducted among her ANC colleagues, questioning how many were living beyond their state salaries.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Pandor said the ruling party had failed to scrutinise the lifestyles of its leading members.<\/p>\n
“How would a colleague have a 13-bedroom house and another a three-bedroom house? (They have) 13 bedrooms in Sandringham or something,” Pandor told the Sunday paper.<\/p>\n
Pandor questioned how some members owned paid-up homes with others “getting $10,000 (R125,000) or $20,000 (R270,000)”, beyond their state salaries.<\/p>\n
“They should start asking questions about those people. It is well beyond what we earn,” Pandor said.<\/p>\n
The minister suggested that leaders provide the party with bank records and statements. “It is to eliminate any notion that you are a public official who is in receipt of illicit support,” Pandor told the Sunday Times.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the commission recommended that high-earning public officials\u00a0\u2013 including the president, deputy president and all ministers and deputy ministers \u2013 get a zero-percent increase in salaries for 2017.<\/p>\n
Ministers annual salaries amount to R2 309 262.<\/p>\n