ActionSA party members: Photo credit: SABC News
(The Post Script)-ActionSA has introduced a new “Cut the Cabinet Perks Bill.” The Bill acts as a step towards the cabinet reform package aimed at easing the burden for the taxpayers.
The Cut Cabinet Perks Bill comes in response to the Government of National Unity’s proposal for a VAT increase. However this would further burden ordinary South Africans.
ActionSA is confident that this bill is necessary and will help the cabinet to minimize cabinet spending and control presidential wasteful expenditure. The party believes that the money spent on the lavish lifestyle by the ministers can be used in a useful manner to improve the lives of the ordinary South Africans.
Alan Beesley, an ActionSA member of parliament, says, “It appears that our Cabinet ministers are spending more time overseas than they’re actually doing in our country. The Minister of Human Settlement spent one night in Australia in a room that cost R198,000 for one-night accommodation, which could have built a house for one family for the rest of their lives. So if you compare one month’s accommodation to a house, it could’ve housed a family for the rest of their lives. The Minister of Higher Education, her ministry spent R11 million on travel in five minutes, and we got students going to university hungry today without any accommodation. So there’s just no tie between the reality of what’s happening in our country and that lavish lifestyle of Cabinet ministers.”
The Bill by ActionSA proposes to amend the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act of 1998 by proposing more involvement of individuals in the overseeing of the ministerial handbook. In the media statement by ActionSA, it states that the amendment of the Act can also be done by “compelling the President to seek approval from the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers for any proposed changes and to consider prevailing economic conditions. Mandating parliamentary accountability by requiring the president to report any amendments to the National Assembly. Ensuring there is an immediate review and thereafter every five years by Parliament of the existing perks of the President and Cabinet Members.”
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