Deputy Minister of Police Cassel Mathale has revealed that both deputy ministers in the police department have still not been given official responsibilities, despite serving in their positions for a full year.
Mathale made the admission during his appearance before the parliamentary Ad Hoc committee investigating allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on July 6.
His remarks raised eyebrows among MPs, who pressed him to explain what he actually does each day at work.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy secretary-general Leigh-Ann Mathys expressed concern that the deputy ministers’ offices continue to receive full funding even though they have no designated roles.
Concerns over budget
“It is actually funded for designated power but you don’t have it. And I want to just put on record that between the 2023/24 financial year and the 2024/25 financial year the budget allocation for the ministry increased from R49.4-million to R63.3-million. The projective growth here for this financial year is R119-million.
“This is reflecting a 23.6% growth compared to other sub-programmes within the administration. This is a significant increase deputy minister. And you know that because I raised this when we had the previous annual report,” said Mathys.
Mathys argued that police minister placed on special leave of absence, Senzo Mchunu, has also failed. And this is because he did not need a year to designate powers.
She added not having designated powers would mean that they have no responsibilities to fulfil for their work. And she wanted to understand how this matched the budget.
However, Mathale defended their work as deputy ministers. He said they have contributed to the adopted working structure. They have also assisted in improving Operation Shanela, he added.
“It does not mean that because there were no signed powers, we were not given responsibilities to do as deputy ministers. We did, and there were things that we were involved in.
“Obviously the 7th administration was going to have an increase within the ministry. Because we have two deputy ministers, not one. That in itself was going to lead to an increase. There’s no way that you can add an extra person and there is no impact on the budget,” said Mathale.
