{"id":475592,"date":"2021-03-14T07:31:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T05:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=475592"},"modified":"2021-03-14T07:31:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T05:31:35","slug":"government-ministers-owe-millions-of-rands-in-rent-on-homes-paid-for-by-south-african-taxpayers-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/475592\/government-ministers-owe-millions-of-rands-in-rent-on-homes-paid-for-by-south-african-taxpayers-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Government ministers owe millions of rands in rent on homes paid for by South African taxpayers: report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A number of current and former cabinet ministers together owe millions of rands in rent on homes that have been subsidised by taxpayers, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times\/news\/2021-03-14-de-lille-chases-former-ministers-mps-for-back-rent-owed-on-state-housing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sunday Times<\/a><\/strong> reports.<\/p>\n<p>Public works minister Patricia de Lille has sent letters to high-profile politicians in an effort to recover more than R8 million in rental arrears.<\/p>\n<p>Under the current ministerial handbook, cabinet ministers are allowed two state houses &#8211; one in Pretoria and one in Cape Town.<\/p>\n<p>They are allowed to stay rent free in one of these homes, but must pay 1% of their salary to stay in the other.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the ministers and other top-ranking officials who reportedly owe money include:<\/p>\n<div id=\"d4fa7c4e06975f7e5e560cbaad57aa87b891d46a\" class=\"article-widget article-widget-text\">\n<div class=\"wrap\">\n<div class=\"text\">\n<ul>\n<li>Former Environmental affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane;<\/li>\n<li>Transport minister Fikile Mbalula;<\/li>\n<li>Former minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini;<\/li>\n<li>Former Home Affairs and Finance minister Malusi Gigaba;<\/li>\n<li>Deputy minister of Higher education Buti Manamela;<\/li>\n<li>Deputy minister of Defence and Military Veterans Kebby Maphatsoe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Lifestyle audits\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In November 2020, president Cyril Ramaphosa said that discussions on a lifestyle audit framework are ongoing and are in the process of being finalised.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa pledged to conduct lifestyle audits of all ANC leaders and public representatives as part of a\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/430128\/ramaphosa-in-a-show-of-force-this-will-be-a-turning-point-in-the-fight-against-corruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clampdown<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on corruption.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s government ministers have long been\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/309940\/these-are-the-cars-that-south-african-ministers-and-deputy-ministers-are-driving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">criticised<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>by opposition parties for the governmental benefits they received under the ministerial handbook \u2013 including free flights, vehicles and other perks.<\/p>\n<p>These perks have been revised under Ramaphosa\u2019s presidency with a new\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/325563\/read-south-africas-new-ministerial-handbook-here\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ministerial handbook<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0published in June 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the benefits included in the 2019 handbook include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The cost of vehicles \u2013 including any security upgrades \u2013 will be determined by the minister of finance;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In the event that an official vehicle is not procured for a member, they may be reimbursed for using their own private vehicle;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Members and their spouses (or an adult family member accompanying the Member in an official capacity) are entitled to travel for official purposes at the expense of the relevant department;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>This trip must be business class travel using the cheapest of three\u00a0 quotations for the most cost-effective and convenient route;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Rentals for phones (as well as the costs of official calls), the installation and maintenance of fax, internet\/Wi-Fi and DStv facilities will be paid for by the department;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Members may occupy a state-owned residence in the seat of office free of charge;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The state will contribute up to R250,000 in security upgrades, with this amount to be revised annually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/474764\/fnb-says-it-has-seen-a-massive-increase-in-this-type-of-mortgage-lending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FNB says it has seen a massive increase in this type of mortgage lending<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A number of current and former cabinet ministers together owe millions of rands in rent on homes that have been subsidised by taxpayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":395475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-475592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475592"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475604,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475592\/revisions\/475604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}