Ntshavheni blames electorate for new cabinet bill

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has blamed the electorate for the inflation of cabinet expenses to more than R1bn in the seventh administration. 

Briefing media after the swearing-in ceremony of the new members of the national executive on Wednesday, Ntshavheni said the cost implications of the newly constituted executive were part of the electoral outcomes. 

“If government work has to be done, government work has to be done. The electorate chose an outcome that landed us in a government of national unity (GNU) and there is a need for inclusivity, so the electorate will also have to accept the responsibility that what they gave us, for us to make lemonades out of lemons, there is a cost to it and that cost will have to be carried. It's a new normal,” she said. 

Ntshavheni, however, said there is a tendency to over-inflate the amounts involved in cabinet expenditure.

She said in the sixth administration it cost a little more than R1bn a year to move ministers, deputy ministers and directors-general to attend portfolio committees and parliamentary work in Cape Town. 

“As the president indicated, he wanted to reduce the number of portfolios but when his party did not get an outright majority and has to work with everybody else, he had to make sure everybody has to be included.

“So there is a cost to the electoral outcome. So South Africans will have to decide again in 2026 with local government elections and also in 2029 with national and provincial elections whether they want an outcome that does not have an outright winner or they are happy with this outcome of collective leadership, with its advantages and disadvantages. The only disadvantage for now you have stated is the cost,” she said.

It's estimated the new cabinet would bring added burden to the taxpayer, accumulating more than R1bn annually in benefits and perks, with R183m allocated to salaries alone.

Ministers will be paid a salary of R2.68m and R2.2m for each deputy minister.

Taxpayers will cover more than R500m for VIP protection and security and R390m for support staff.

In March 2023, TimesLIVE reported servicing the then 62 cabinet ministers and deputies cost taxpayers R2bn during their five-year term. The executive has now ballooned from 62 to 74 members. 

TimesLIVE also reported at the time that Ramaphosa’s ministers were violating the ministerial handbook limit on the number of support staff they were allowed to hire, with some employing as many as 17 people in their private offices at a cost more than R10m per year per ministry.

The ministers shared 624 officials employed as support staff in the various ministerial offices during the sixth administration.

TimesLIVE