Wasteful expenditure monitor: Total up to R75.9 million

Over the past week, the DA has identified an additional R19 million the ANC government has spent on luxuries it does not need. This brings the total amount wasted under Jacob Zuma's administration to R75.9 million.

We will update these new expenses, set out below, on our ‘Wasteful Expenditure Monitor' which can be found here.

The additions to the table include the following:

• R11 million: The Free State Provincial Cabinet purchased new Mercedes-Benzes for each member (11 in total). They comprised 10 Mercedes-Benz S500s and 1 Mercedes-Benz S600 for Premier Ace Magashule;
• R7 million: The Free State Government spent R7 million on the opening of the Free State legislature in June 2009;
• R263 562: Budget vote parties for the departments of Public Service and Administration, State Security, Health and Home Affairs; and
• R796 003: The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries bought a new Mercedes Benz S350 for the Minister. It included R15 000 worth of extras.

To put that R76 million into perspective, if one considers that an RDP house costs approximately R54 000 and a teacher's salary is approximately R129 000 per annum, that amount could have been used to buy:

• 1 407 new RDP houses; or
• Fund the salary of 589 teachers for a year.

South Africa is in the grips of an economic recession and the ANC government has gone out of its way to emphasise that it needs to be frugal and prudent in the way it spends public money if it wants to deliver services and properly manage our budget deficit.

In delivering his 2009 budget vote to Parliament, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan warned that the state had to be more disciplined in the way it manages its money.

He stated: "After seven years of growing budgets and rising revenues there is a degree of fiscal looseness in the system and now is the time to tighten up on that looseness." He continued, "Money is not the problem ... it is how we spend the money. This has to improve."

That commitment, however, has not translated into action and, since Jacob Zuma's new administration has come to office, there has been a stream of examples of fruitless and wasteful expenditure, more often than not, to indulge the executive's personal tastes, rather than to deliver basic services to South African citizens.

The DA will continue to monitor the amount misspent by the ANC government on unnecessary extras and update the monitor as and when appropriate.

Statement issued by Anchen Dreyer MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of public service and administration, July 31 2009

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter