Ministerial Handbook scandal: ANC Cabinet blows R58 million on free water, security upgrades and electricity to escape load-shedding

26 March 2023

In the latest abuse perpetrated by the African National Congress (ANC) through the Ministerial Handbook, the Democratic Alliance (DA) can today reveal that members of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government have abused over R58 million in taxpayer funds to provide free electricity, water and security upgrades at the 97 luxury mansions – themselves valued at nearly R1 billion – where they live courtesy of South African taxpayers in Cape Town and Pretoria.

Most shocking of all, this figure includes over R7 million spent on “alternative power supply” for the mansions occupied by Ministers and Deputy Ministers. While South Africans suffer the devastation of the load-shedding crisis caused by the ANC Cabinet, those same ANC Ministers and Deputy Ministers are abusing the hard-earned taxes of South Africans to insulate themselves from the consequences of their decades-long corruption and mismanagement.

While the people suffer, the ANC’s rockstar Ministers lounge around the swimming pools of their luxury mansions receiving an uninterrupted supply of power, free water and electricity, and an impenetrable wall of security – all funded on the back of a country where over 30 million people live in desperate poverty and face violent crime on a daily basis.

The DA exposes this latest information, which we obtained through a parliamentary question as part of our ongoing campaign to inform South Africans of how much the Ministerial Handbook truly costs them, despite the fact that there is no law that allows for the Handbook to even exist. The parliamentary question focused on the following;

The total amount of public funds spent on paying the water and electricity bills at state-owned official residences;

The total amount of public funds spent on procuring and installing generators, inverters and solar and/or other electricity systems;

The total amount of public funds spent on the procurement of boreholes, well-points, water reticulation and purification systems, at state-owned official residences; and

The total cost of security, including security upgrades, provided at state-owned official residences for Ministers and Deputy Ministers since 1 June 2019?

In response to the DA’s parliamentary question, Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala revealed that since the 2019 election:

R18.3 million was spent on providing free electricity to Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their 58 mansions in Cape Town;

R7.5 million was spent on providing free water to Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their 58 mansions in Cape Town;

R22 million was spent on providing free electricity and water to Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their 39 mansions in Pretoria;

R7 million was spent on providing alternative power supply Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their 97 mansions in Cape Town and Pretoria; and

R3.4 million was spent on providing security upgrades to Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their 97 mansions in Cape Town and Pretoria.

This latest information further confirms how the ANC abuses the Ministerial Handbook to spit in the faces of the people of South Africa. This exposé follows on a protest held by the DA at the luxurious Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria last week, which houses many of the ministerial mansions where the ANC elite sips champagne at taxpayer expense. We have also previously revealed that Ramaphosa’s government spends R387 million per year on the salaries of 624 support staff.

The DA has already reported to the Public Protector that there is no law that provides for this Handout Handbook to exist. We are currently collecting more information on other abuses perpetrated through the Handbook ahead of further action we are considering to abolish this obscene waste of money once and for all. We undertake to provide complete transparency to the people of South Africa on the extent to which they are abused through the Handbook, and to continue leading the fight to end the wastage and corruption that have brought our country to its knees.

Issued by Leon Schreiber, DA Shadow Minister for Public Service and Administration, 25 March 2023