DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS CLARIFIES MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT THE
PURCHASING OF THE MINISTER'S OFFICIAL VEHICLES

The Department of Communications has noted media reports about the purchasing of vehicles for official use by Minister General (Ret) Siphiwe Nyanda.

According to the Government Transport Scheme for Political Office Bearers,  prescribes that a minister is entitled to acquire a vehicle for official use that is worth not more than 70 percent of his/her annual salary package.

This rule applies to each of the minister's offices, i.e. Pretoria and Cape Town.

The prescribed value includes whatever additional accessories that may come with a vehicle.

The Department of Transport further prescribes a variety of options for the purchasing of vehicles for use by political office bearers.

The Department of Communications chose option three, the Full Maintenance Lease, which brings the actual cost of the vehicles to government to the market value of the vehicle less the residual value, which is on average 30%.

The process of procuring the vehicles for Minister Nyanda was therefore done in accordance with these prescribed guidelines, which are stipulated in the Ministerial Handbook.

Statement issued by, Tiyani Rikhotso, spokesperson for the minister of communications, July 17 2009

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