Presidential Handbook: Less abundance, more accountability
15 September 2016
Today we present the Democratic Alliance’s new, cost-cutting, alternative Presidential Handbook. This document aims to ensure that the person who occupies the Presidency is not given free rein with the people’s money, but is held to clear and precise standards and guidelines so as to ensure public funds are used to uplift the poor and deliver services, rather than bankroll the lavish lifestyles of the President and the Deputy.
The purpose of this Presidential Handbook is two-fold, in that it not only ensures appropriate support to the Presidency but also, crucially, sets quantifiable limits on that expenditure.
The Handbook acts as an implementable guideline to put a stop to the wasteful spending that has soared to extraordinary heights under the Zuma Presidency. Under President Jacob Zuma, the budget for the Presidency has increased by more than 225 percent, ballooning from R452.5 million in 2008/09 to R1.15 billion for 2014/15. This needs to be curtailed, and fast.
This Presidential Handbook has been drafted in such a way as to remove any ambiguity – such as a swimming pool being charitably termed a “firepool”. It seeks to avoid any future Nkandlas and blue light brigades, R4 billion jets and bloated VIP Protection Services.
One of the DA’s core beliefs is that every cent of public money – that is, money contributed by the people of South Africa and intended to be spent on the public good - is directed at achieving a better future for all South Africans, particularly the poorest. This Presidential Handbook thus seeks to action this belief.
Last year November, the Presidency made public its official “Presidential Handbook”, which we maintain is an open-ended and toothless instrument that has done next to nothing to curtail the President’s careless spending.
Therefore the DA’s Handbook seeks to address the manifold shortcomings of the current Presidential Handbook, which sets out to merely delineate which government department is liable for the President's spending but without setting crucial parameters or limitations.
The DA’s Handbook is a comprehensive document that covers Acceptance of Office; Remuneration, Benefits, Taxation and Leave; Residences; Transport; Relinquishing of Office; Travel Privileges of Former Presidents/ Deputy Presidents and their Spouses; Entertainment; and Miscellaneous.
I would like to highlight a few of its key features. The DA Presidential Handbook:
- Introduces a detailed Presidential Ethics Code, similar to but more detailed than the Executive Ethics Code which currently does not apply to the President. This Code focuses on financial interests, gifts, and conflict of interest;
- Compels the President and Deputy President to disclose all business interests, as well as the business interests held by their families, in entities that conduct business with the National Government;
- Restricts business interests in entities conducting business with the National Government; prescribing that the President or Deputy President cannot have business interests in any entity if he/she “directly or indirectly owns or controls more than 5% of the shares, stocks, membership or other interest of that entity”.
- Prescribes that the President and Deputy President’s financial interests be published in the Government Gazette annually;
- Stipulates what should occur in the event of a failure to comply with the Presidential Ethics Code. These include, as the case may be, the initiation of impeachment proceedings by the National Assembly; an investigation by the Public Protector; or the matter being referred to the Constitutional Court;
- Details spousal support and sets important limitations. These include capping total spend on spousal support at 45% of the President or Deputy President’s inclusive annual remuneration package; capping the cost of vehicles at 15% and prohibiting their replacement during the President or Deputy President’s term of office; and, setting conditions for providing spouse(s) with private secretaries;
- Discontinues Private Motor Vehicle Allowances for the President and Deputy President as dedicated vehicles are always available for their transport requirements;
- States that motor vehicles can only be replaced during the President and Deputy President’s term “as a result of non-repairable mechanical breakdown or in the event that necessary repairs exceed the value of the vehicle”.
- Details permissible security upgrades at the private residences of the President and Deputy President. Expenditure on security upgrades are furthermore capped at R1 million with upgrades exceeding this amount subject to approval by Parliament;
- Compels the President and Deputy President to only travel with dedicated SANDF aircraft or, when unavailable, commercial airlines;
- Holds the President and Deputy President responsible for non-official travel costs, i.e. the State no longer carries the cost of private or party travel; and caps travel privileges of former Presidents and Deputy Presidents and their spouse(s).
We are satisfied that if this Handbook is implemented, a large chunk of the wasteful and careless spending at the very top of government will be curtailed, meaning more public funds will be available to deliver services to our people.
At this point, we must again make an urgent call for the establishment of a parliamentary oversight committee, which will exercise oversight over the country’s highest office. Had this Committee been in place, we can say that Nkandla would not have happened. It is unimaginable that the National Assembly is not adequately able to exercise oversight over The Presidency, despite the fact that they are accountable to the House, in terms of the Constitution.
It must be said that this is not a new initiative for the DA. Where we are in government, we have introduced a number of initiatives that highlight our commitment to clean and efficient government.
For starters, The DA has banned “blue lights” for the executive in all 32 DA-led municipalities and the DA-led Western Cape Government.
In 2010, the Western Cape Provincial Parliament passed the Business Interests of Employees Act which precludes all government employees and their families from doing business with the state. The Western Cape Government has also strengthened its Forensic Investigation Unit to ensure that cases of corruption in provincial departments can be swiftly detected, investigated and prosecuted.
Furthermore, The Western Cape Government has its own Ministerial Handbook, which mirrors this Presidential Handbook in many ways. The Handbook subjects all MECs to much tighter rules and regulations. The Handbook has been in operation since 2011 and can be found here.
At local government level, within the first month in office, the DA-led City of Tshwane put a ban on the purchase of luxury cars for government employees. The Mayor of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, redirected 10 new BMW vehicles - which were purchased by the previous ANC administration for over R5-million - to the Tshwane Metro Police Department‚ where they will serve in a newly formed Anti-Hijack Unit.
This all stems from our fundamental belief that government is there to serve the people, and government funds are strictly reserved for core functions of government that benefit the people, not politicians.
Even where we are not in government, our public representatives work tirelessly to stop the ANC from abusing the people’s money. Just recently, the new Mayor of eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali was planning to purchase a new R1.5 million luxury vehicle as a mayoral car. After persistent pressure, the decision was reversed, which is a massive victory for the people of eMalahleni.
Indeed, there is a much higher burden of expectation on the President and Deputy President to both contain spending and avoid conflicts of interest, and in so doing set an example for other public servants. This Handbook seeks to both recognise and operationalise that fact.
Come 2019, we are ready to follow the lead of DA-led governments across the country and implement this Handbook at national level.
Government is about governing for the people. We need fewer frills and more frugality, so that our people can truly experience a better life. This Presidential Handbook seeks to do just that.
Issued by Mabine Seabe, Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 15 September 2016
