37 839 Public Servant Millionaire Cadres

Dear Editor

The DA can reveal that the number of public servants in provincial and national government departments being paid over R1 million per year has ballooned to a total of 37 839. This figure is only limited to national and provincial departments, and excludes executives at State-owned enterprises, municipalities and other government agencies. The information was revealed in response to the latest set of parliamentary questions submitted by the DA.

According to the reply received from the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Noxolo Kiviet, 28 343 officials are currently paid just over R1 million per year, while another 8 748 are paid between R1.2 million and R1.7 million. A further 631 millionaire managers get over R1.7 million, while 117 are paid over R2.1 million per year. The total of over 37 000 millionaire cadres is a dramatic increase from just 10 000 a decade ago.

In total, just a single year of salary payments to these 37 839 highly paid cadres costs taxpayers nearly R47 billion – R46 881 819 370 to be precise.

The staggering amount spent to finance the luxury lifestyles of the tens of thousands of ANC cadres who have run our country into the ground, is an insult to the people of South Africa, who are currently experiencing the most profound cost-of-living crisis in a generation. While ANC cadres feast, millions of South Africans can no longer afford to put food on the table and millions more cannot find work.

This information also reveals another key cog in the ANC’s cadre deployment scheme. By manipulating appointments in the public sector to favour its “loyal cadres,” the ANC has positioned its cronies in high-paying positions throughout the State. By elevating political loyalty over the need for skills and competence, the ANC has succeeded in placing a vast network of tens of thousands of cadres in lucrative positions – at the cost of collapsing service delivery experienced daily by South Africans in the form of water cuts, power interruptions, disintegrating roads and railways and growing joblessness.

This also explains why the ANC is determined to continue practicing cadre deployment at all costs. It sits at the heart of the ANC’s corruption and patronage machine. Despite the fact that this practice facilitates State capture – as confirmed by the Zondo Commission – the ANC continues to defend this most pernicious form of systemic corruption.

Unlike the ANC, the DA has unambiguously pledged in our manifesto and through our ongoing war against cadre deployment, to outlaw and abolish this practice from the face of this country. The ANC refuses to do so because tens of thousands of its cadres are dependent on the proceeds of corruption. The only way to rescue South Africa from the scourge of cadre deployment and corruption before it is too late, it by voting for the DA on 29 May.

Regards

Dr Leon Schreiber MP
DA Shadow Minister for Public Service and Administration