Former minister of pubic works and infrastructure Patricia de Lille spent more than R2.4-million in state funds for overseas travel.
This is according to DA MP Leon Schreiber during a picket outside the ministerial estate in Bryntirion, Pretoria on Monday.
Schreiber, who criticised this expenditure as indicative of extravagant lifestyles of “rockstar ministers”, said De Lille undertook the trips from September 2019 to September 2022.
According to Schreiber, De Lille took a total of eight foreign trips within the mentioned time period, which were allegedly sanctioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“During this three-year period, President Cyril Ramaphosa personally approved eight luxurious overseas trips for De Lille in terms of the ministerial handbook,” Schreiber said.
“Information obtained by the DA through a parliamentary question shows that the flights, luxury accommodation, and subsistence costs of these trips amounted to R2 415 994.
“Patricia de Lille travels in style at taxpayer expense. She spent over R1.6-million on eight international – doubtless business class – return flights.”
He explained further: “During a jaunt to the United Kingdom in September last year, she incurred total costs of R478 000 in only five days.
“This included flight tickets costing South Africans an astronomical R326 000. Her accommodation for five nights in a luxury hotel added over R140 000 to the taxpayer bill.
“De Lille blew more on luxurious overseas travel in these five days than most South Africans will earn in five years.
“Six nights in Cuba would make a good movie title for the Hollywood lifestyle that ANC rockstar Patricia De Lille enjoys.
“The only problem is that her hotel accommodation during six tropical Havana nights in April last year cost the people of South Africa over R122 000, with business-class flights adding another R236 000 to the bill.”
Schreiber suggests that the ministerial handbook, despite its annual cost to South African taxpayers, does not have a solid legal basis or foundation.
He said: “The R2.4-million spent by taxpayers on De Lille’s global jet-setting is made possible by chapter six of the ministerial handbook, a document for which there appears to exist no legal basis whatsoever even though it costs South Africans billions of rands every year.
“The handbook stipulates that the president approves, in writing, all international travel for ministers and deputy ministers, making Ramaphosa personally responsible for this wastage.
“The handbook entitles rockstar ministers and deputy ministers to travel overseas in business class and to take along an entourage that can include their spouse, bodyguards, and support staff – with every cent footed by the people of South Africa.”
According to Schreiber, the handbook also provides ministers with access to VIP lounges, five-star hotels intended for “status members”, and a subsistence allowance.
During the picket, DA leader John Steenhuisen told party members that while ordinary South Africans struggle, ministers live extravagantly.
Steenhuisen made his statement at a podium that was set up at the ministerial gate where party members held up “for sale” signs and placards declaring “ministerial handbook = looting”, and “R2-billion wasted on cadres”.
He emphasised that the lives of cabinet ministers are vastly different from those of ordinary citizens.
“Cabinet world is different from the world that South Africans live in, and this is unacceptable,” said Steenhuisen.
“Behind me, there are several tennis courts, swimming pools, golf course. An expensive life. Come 2024, the only sign that we will put up on this gate is “for sale”.
“The time has come for a government that puts people ahead of the politicians. A government that will be on the side of millions of South Africans who live in poverty.”
Schreiber echoed Steenhuisen’s sentiments and, pointing to the gate behind the podium, asserted that it separates a different world from that of ordinary South Africans.
He said cabinet ministers are not subject to the same issues such as loadshedding and crime faced by the rest of the citizens.
The DA leaders pledged to continue their fight against ministers living lavishly at the expense of taxpayers.
Schreiber announced that the party plans to present a “cut cabinet perks bill” in parliament aimed at curbing the excessive spending of taxpayers’ money.
“The DA is leading the fight against this abuse of the people of South Africa by the ANC ministers and deputy ministers who are destroying our country.
“We have already laid a complaint with the public protector over the apparent fact that the handbook that feeds the cadres at the trough is illegal.
“We are also introducing the cut cabinet perks bill in parliament to provide for full transparency and parliamentary oversight over this obscene waste of money.
“The DA has already exposed that ANC rockstar ministers and deputy ministers live in mansions valued at R1-billion, that they employ support staff costing R387-million per year, and that De Lille spent R2.6-million to install generators at their mansions.”
To read more political news and views, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
