Former ministers and spouses fly high on free air tickets

APOLOGY & CORRECTION: In "Against rules, former ministers and spouses fly high on free air tickets" (November 22), we reported that former ministers and their spouses had racked up bills of R45.3m on flights despite the excessive benefit having been removed in the ministerial handbook last year. The sub headline stated that "Rules don't allow it, but ex-ministers fly high on public purse", and we quoted Kamogelo Mogotsi, spokesman to public service minister Senzo Mchunu, as saying that the free flights to former members of the executive had been scrapped. In fact, while the ministerial handbook has indeed done away with travel benefits, this change does not have retrospective effect and former members of the executive still enjoy the benefits they had before the new rules were introduced. Parliament is drafting an amended policy for all former members of parliament, including former members of the executive. Former finance minister Trevor Manuel complained on behalf of himself and his wife, Maria Ramos, for reporting that the R382 000 in flights spent on them was against the rules. We accept that these flights were not against the rules and apologise to Manuel and Ramos for the error. We also apologise to other individuals mentioned in the story as being benefitted from flights against the rules.

Former ministers and their spouses, including apartheid-era politicians, are flying around the country at a cost of millions of rands to the taxpayer.

This excessive benefit was removed from the ministerial handbook last year but has not been applied retrospectively. It is now up to Parliament to amend the policy for people still enjoying the benefit.

Between 2014 and 2020, the taxpayer forked out R45.3m on business class travel for former ministers, deputies, premiers and their spouses. This includes apartheid-era ministers and those who left the executive in disgrace after enabling state capture.

Since the ministerial handbook was revised to exclude this benefit in 2019, parliament has forked out close to R10m on flights for these former ministers and their spouses. The figure is set to rise as spending on free flights continues unabated.

Responding to a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application from the DA, parliament provided a detailed list of 200 former ministers, deputies and their spouses who have clocked travel claims amounting to just under R20m between April 2018 and March 2020. These include:

• Apartheid-era ministers Adriaan Vlok (R59,000 in 2018/2019 and R46,000 in 2019/2020) and Roelf Meyer (R98,000 in 2018/2019) and (R126,000 in 2019/20);

• Former National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk (R29,000 in 2018/2019 and R38,000 in 2019/2020) and his wife Suzette (R9,900 in 2018/2019 and R24,000 in 2019/2020);

• Des van Rooyen, who served for 48 hours as finance minister and also as minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs (R224,000 in 2018/2019 and R17,000 in 2019/2020);

• Former finance minister Trevor Manuel (R187,000 in 2018/2019 and R124,000 in 2019/2020) and his wife Maria Ramos, a former CEO of banking giant Absa (R10,000 in 2018/2019 and R61,000 in 2019/2020);

• Former Mpumalanga premier and ex ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa (R140,000 in 2018/2019 and R116,000 in 2019/2020) and Yvonne Phosa (R19,000 in 2019/2020);

• Head of the ANC's economic transformation committee Enoch Godongwana, a former deputy minister of public enterprises, (R94,000 in 2018/2019 and R145,000 in 2019/2020), and Thandiwe Godongwana (R99,000 in 2018/2019 and R67,000 in 2019/2020);

• Former finance minister Malusi Gigaba (R19,000 in 2018/2019 and R87,000 in 2019/2020) and his estranged wife Norma Mngoma (R26,000 in 2018/2019 and R66,000 in 2019/2020);

• Former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda (R115,000 in 2018/19 and R111,000 in 2010/20); and

• Another former public enterprises minister, Barbara Hogan (R215,000 in 2018/19 and R106,000 in 2019/20).

The benefit also accrued to former ministers and deputies even though most of them go on to occupy other lucrative positions in the public and private sectors.

Those falling in this category include former trade & industry minister and current high commissioner to Maputo Mandisi Mphahlwa, who clocked business class trips worth R184,000 in 2019. Ekurhuleni executive mayor Mzwandile Masina and his wife Sinazo claimed for trips worth R152,000 and R146,00 respectively in 2019/20.

CLICK HERE FOR THE HI-RES VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT BELOW

The Paia application compelled parliament to reveal figures that have until now been a closely guarded secret in the government. The DA slammed the expense as a "slap in the face of the poor" and is reporting parliament to the auditor-general for possible irregular expenditure.

According to the documents, expenditure of about R3.8m per annum in 2014 skyrocketed to R9.2m in the 2018/19 financial year, and to R9.5m in the 2019/20 financial year as more politicians claimed their loss-of-office benefits at ministerial level. These include those who have since left the executive to become ordinary MPs.

The old ministerial handbook, which took almost a decade to review, entitled a former minister to 48 single domestic business class flights a year and a deputy to 36 single trips a year. Spouses of former ministers were entitled to 24 trips and those of deputy minister to 18 trips a year at taxpayers' expense.

CLICK HERE FOR THE HI-RES VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT BELOW

The free flights have continued despite the benefit being scrapped in the ministerial handbook, which was revised by public service & administration minister Senzo Mchunu in November last year.

Mchunu's spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, confirmed to the Sunday Times that provisions for free flights to former members of the executive had been scrapped.

"The 2007 handbook had provisions relating to travel benefits for former ministers and deputy ministers; the new guide doesn't," said Mogotsi, before referring queries to parliament.

Parliament's spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, said the legislature had budgeted for flights for former members of the executive and their spouses, even though it was not the custodian of the ministerial handbook. Mothapo said they would be proposing changes to the controversial benefit.

Not only does forcing parliament to pay for former members of cabinet violate the separation of powers, but - aside from the ministerial handbook - there is no law that sanctions this wastage

"Parliament is currently drafting an amended policy for all former members of parliament (including the former executive who are also members of parliament) and will recommend transitional provisions applicable to the current beneficiaries of the scheme," he said.

"No new beneficiaries have been added to the scheme subsequent to the removal of the provision in the amended ministerial handbook," Mothapo said.

Officials in the government and in parliament with intimate knowledge of the matter said there is strong lobbying by former ministers and MPs for the benefit to continue for as long as possible.

One of the officials slammed the amendments to the ministerial handbook as "cosmetic".

"It was just cosmetic; they just reduced it to a certain extent but not sufficiently. So the public will be correct to be outraged by this. They just benefit too much, even their medical aid, it's a Rolls-Royce of medical aids," said the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak on the matter.

DA MP Leon Schreiber, who submitted the Paia application, said the spending on free flights for retired ministers and their spouses was an insult to the poor.

"These luxury flights are immoral and a corrupt waste of money at a time when more South Africans than ever have been dumped into poverty by the policies of the very people who continue to live in luxury," said Schreiber.

He said he believes the expenditure is "illegal" and said the DA has asked the office of the auditor-general to probe parliament for possible irregular expenditure with regard to the flights.

"Not only does forcing parliament to pay for former members of cabinet violate the separation of powers, but - aside from the ministerial handbook - there is no law that sanctions this wastage.

"To immediately prevent further irregular expenditure, I have already written to the auditor-general requesting an urgent investigation into the fact that parliament spends millions every year on retired members of the cabinet.

"Should the auditor-general come to the conclusion that this indeed amounts to irregular expenditure, I have requested that the AG take appropriate remedial action to force parliament to entirely scrap this provision and to recover the quarter of a billion rand lost to the state over the past 26 years in accordance with section 5A(3) of the Public Audit Act of 2004."

The Sunday Times reached out to some of the former ministers and deputies who continue to benefit from taxpayer-sponsored travel, but most did not return calls or respond to text messages.

Phosa, one of the few to respond, said on Saturday that there is nothing untoward as the benefit is stipulated in the handbook.

"The rules are the rules, none of us wrote them. There's a green book, we all abide by it. You are just looking for sensation where there is none," he said.

Meyer said he still regarded himself as a public servant as the founding member of the Public-Private Growth Initiative located in the presidency, which mobilises the private sector to invest more in the economy.

"I regard myself as a public servant still and I do this almost on a full-time basis and I don't get any remuneration for that, which is fine, I'm not expecting it," he said.

"If you look at what was announced by the president this week at the investment conference, three of the major projects that come in investments announcements [totalling] R110bn, were directly related to the work we're doing.

"But I had to travel a lot as a result of that, particularly in the period that you refer to. In that period that you refer to it started in 2018, it went through 2019 and it carried on very specifically until Covid came. So, I'm trying to explain, I'm not trying to defend," he explained.