Cape Town - Taxpayers have coughed up R56.5 million for electricity, water, generators and security upgrades for the houses of ministers and their deputies in Cape Town and Pretoria over the past four years.
This emerged when newly-appointed Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala responded to parliamentary questions from DA MP Leon Schreiber.
He enquired about the total amount of public funds that have been spent on paying water and electricity bills at the state-owned official residences for ministers and deputy ministers since June 2019.
He also wanted to know the amount spent on procuring and installing generators, inverters and solar and/or other electricity systems as well as boreholes, well-points and water reticulation and purification systems at the state-owned houses.
Schreiber also asked about the total cost of security, including security upgrades, provided at state-owned official residences.
In his written response, Zikalala said a total of R56 548 268 was spent on electricity, water, generators and security upgrades at the ministerial houses.
Last month, it was stated that 58 state-owned houses were occupied by ministers and their deputies in Cape Town and the number stood at 39 in Pretoria.
All the ministerial houses are valued to the tune of R966m.
Zikalala said the amount spent on electricity in the Cape Town ministers’ and their deputies’ state-owned houses stood at R18 337 017.
The breakdown of electricity expenditure in the legislative capital is as follows:
- R 5 119 892.04 in 2019-20;
- R 5 116 075.75 the following year;
- R 4 895 002.44 in 2021-22; and
- R 3 206 048.54 in 2022-23.
The minister stated that R7492773 was spent on water expenditure.
An amount of R2278 388.48 in 2019-20, followed by R2124544.29 the following year, R2398 891.46 in 2021-22 and R690950.91 in 2022-23.
Zikalala also said no amount was spent on procuring and installing alternative power supply systems and alternative water supply systems in the state-owned official residences in Cape Town during the period.
The same also applied to security. This included security upgrades at the state-owned official residences during the same period.
However, Zikalala said a total of R22078478 was spent on paying for water and electricity bills at state-owned official residences in Pretoria.
An amount of R5753334.18 was spent on ministers and R16325144.45 on their deputy ministers’ houses.
He said R2m was spent procuring and installing alternative power supply for ministers and R5040000 for procuring and installing alternative power supply for deputy ministers in the administrative capital city.
Last December, it was reported that R784135.00 was spent to keep lights on at the ministerial houses between June and December and that 13 generators were replaced due to redundancy.
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure spent R1.3m before April 2022 and a further R680 000 from April 2022 to June 2022.
Zikalala said R3.4m was spent on security, including security upgrades, at the state-owned official residences in Pretoria during the same period.
He stated that R1319319.10 was spent on the houses of ministers and R2 081 283.05 on those of deputy ministers.
Cape Times