Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson is facing mounting political pressure after ActionSA accused him of evading parliamentary oversight and benefiting from lavish travel perks while serving in the government of national unity (GNU).
The controversy follows a City Press report alleging that Macpherson undertook a taxpayer-funded “working visit” to Brazil accompanied by his romantic partner.
While Macpherson has rejected claims of impropriety, the trip has ignited broader scrutiny over executive travel expenditure within the GNU, particularly for the DA, who have historically campaigned against executive excess and originally introduced the Cut the Cabinet Perks Bill during the sixth administration.
ActionSA MP Alan Beesley says the DA allowed the bill to lapse after joining the GNU.
“What makes it so funny [is] this was originally the DA’s bill. They allowed it to lapse when they became part of a GNU. So we picked this bill up. We called it the Enhanced Cut the Cabinet Perks Bill,” said Beesley.
We’ve asked every single minister that has come into power, until they’ve been appointed as a minister, to give us an update on the travel costs, and Macpherson has refused to do so on two occasions.
— ActionSA’s MP Alan Beesley
The revised bill seeks to remove the president’s sole authority to amend the Ministerial Handbook, require parliamentary and independent commission oversight, mandate public disclosure and regular reviews as well as impose stricter controls on executive spending.
While the DA has not formally stated its position on the enhanced version of the bill, it has in the past consistently advocated fiscal oversight and curbing excessive government spending.
DA leader Helen Zille has previously gone as far as stating that none of the DA ministers in the GNU was using state vehicles fitted with blue lights.
She also mentioned that the DA ministers chose not to use the ministerial residences offered to them in Pretoria and Cape Town and that some ministers had made the decision to share a house in Pretoria to minimise the use of state resources.
Political analyst Prof Nontsikelelo Breakfast said the DA’s dual role in the GNU complicated its posture.
“The DA that was in the opposition and the one that has joined forces with the ANC to constitute the GNU, it’s a different type of issue because they have also been blasted for flouting. It’s one thing to be in the opposition full time. It’s another to [join forces with the ANC] ... They are in a very complicated relationship,” he said.
“And that is catching up with the party. Because now the party has to respond to complaints from other opposition parties, while the party also wants to take strategic advantage of some of the failures of the ANC as the leader of the GNU, to attack the very same government that it is a part of,” he said.
The EFF has also condemned Macpherson’s trip, accusing the DA of hypocrisy for allegedly enjoying the same executive perks it once criticised when in opposition.
Beesley said Macpherson had repeatedly refused to provide updated travel cost disclosures to parliament.
“We’ve asked every single minister that has come into power, until they’ve been appointed as a minister, to give us an update on the travel costs, and Macpherson has refused to do so on two occasions. So the majority of the ministers have responded, and he has not responded to our questions,” said Beesley.
“So one’s actually going to ask, why is he not responding? And the answer is clear that he’s obviously got something to hide.”
In January this year, in a media statement, Beesley said evasive replies to parliamentary questions revealed “a consistent pattern of disregard within the cabinet for parliament’s constitutional oversight role and the public’s right to transparency”.
According to ActionSA, Macpherson was among ministers who allowed questions to lapse by failing to submit updated travel expense information.
The party also accused agriculture minister John Steenhuisen and basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube of evading accountability by citing administrative capacity constraints.
The party further claimed that the minister in the presidency withheld travel cost details, citing vague security concerns, while Deputy President Paul Mashatile declined to provide updated figures after ActionSA exposed the cost of his Japan trip, which reportedly included more than R900,000 for four nights’ hotel accommodation.
He needs to come back and say, what was the purpose of the trip? What were the benefits of the trip? And why did he have to take his partner with and how did taxpayers actually benefit from his partner being on that trip?
— ActionSA’s MP Alan Beesley
Digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi was also named among those accused of failing to fully account.
On Sunday, ActionSA called on Macpherson to repay money allegedly spent on his partner during the Brazil trip and to issue a public apology.
Beesley argued that while the Ministerial Handbook may allow partners to accompany ministers on official travel, it is “morally wrong” given South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
“The ministers or the executive cabinet, they can’t tell the rest of society to tighten their belts when their own belts are getting looser, when they are getting fatter and fatter every day. We’ve got children in our country dying of hunger. We’ve got people living on the streets because they can’t afford accommodation, yet we’ve ministers who are flying their partners around the world in luxury and taxpayers are having to fund it. And we say that’s morally wrong,” he said.
He questioned the necessity of the Brazil visit.
“There’s actually no reason for him to be in Brazil when it’s the department of public works, it’s local. It’s not an international issue. If it was international affairs or something like that, why Brazil? There needs to be a justification for the trip,” he said.
“He needs to come back and say what the purpose of the trip was? What were the benefits of the trip? And why did he have to take his partner with and how did taxpayers actually benefit from his partner being on that trip?”
Macpherson has rejected the allegations, stating that the total travel costs for the Brazil visit including his partner amounted to R350,000 and that no fruitless or wasteful duplicate bookings were made.
He also said he had no knowledge of any alleged disagreement among departmental officials about his partner accompanying him.
Earlier this year, Beesley revealed that GNU ministers had racked up nearly R450m in travel and accommodation expenses in their first 18 months in office — a figure he said could exceed R500m once all parliamentary replies are finalised.
The spending data was compiled through ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker and based on responses to parliamentary questions.
According to the party, the biggest-spending departments over the 18-month period were:
- Human settlements, under ANC minister Thembi Simelane: R32.98m
- Water and sanitation, under ANC minister Pemmy Majodina: R29.57m
- Women, youth and people with disabilities, under ANC minister Sindisiwe Chikunga: R25.27m
- Forestry, fisheries and the environment, previously under DA minister Dion George and now Willie Aucamp: R24.41m
- The Presidency, under President Cyril Ramaphosa: R24.17m
Last year, ActionSA wrote to the speaker of the National Assembly requesting disciplinary action against cabinet members who failed to declare travel costs within parliament’s 14-day deadline.
Speaking at the time ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said those in positions of power must be held to the highest standard of transparency.
“We cannot allow a culture of concealment to take root in the very institutions meant to safeguard our democracy,” said Beaumont.
“This issue is particularly close to me because I just think in South Africa where we’ve got children battling with hunger, people living homeless, that our ministers and deputy ministers of a bloated cabinet can be spending money so prevalently, it’s just absolutely wrong,” said Beesley.
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