Stronger Checks on Executive Perks Needed

OUTA supports new amendment bill aimed at regulating ministerial benefits, as a move towards strengthened enforcement for an ethical public service.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has made a formal submission to Parliament in support of the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Amendment Bill, 2025, urging lawmakers to close dangerous loopholes that enable unchecked executive benefits through the Ministerial Handbook. This submission is made in response to the notice published in Government Gazette No. 52274 on 13 March 2025.

MP Alan Beesley, who intends to introduce the Private Member’s Bill, compiled it in the wake of the public outrage triggered by the 2022 amendments to the Ministerial Handbook, which quietly granted ministers and deputy ministers free water and electricity at official residences and significantly expanded their private offices, costing taxpayers upwards of R87 million annually. These changes were later rescinded, but the incident exposed a serious lack of transparency and oversight.

“We welcome the intent of this bill and see it as a crucial step toward restoring public confidence in government spending,” says Advocate Stefanie Fick, Executive Director of OUTA’s Accountability and Public Governance Division. “The current system allows benefits to be introduced with no parliamentary scrutiny, no costing disclosure, and no requirement to consult the Independent Commission tasked with advising on public office bearers’ remuneration. That must change.”

OUTA’s submission highlights several key recommendations:

• Parliament must be notified within 30 days of any change to benefits or allowances for ministers, deputy ministers, the President or Deputy President.
• All such changes must be preceded by a recommendation from the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.
• The Ministerial Handbook should be legally recognised as a delegated legislative instrument, subject to parliamentary tabling and review.
• Public access to costing models, economic justifications, and regular reviews of executive benefits must be mandated.
• Benefits granted outside of the proposed process should be deemed unlawful and classified as unauthorised expenditure under the Public Finance Management Act.

“We are not opposing fair and reasonable remuneration for our public officials,” Fick added. “What we are demanding is accountability. The bill begins to answer the public’s call for austerity, transparency, and the rule of law in how the executive treats public money.”

OUTA believes that the amendment bill presents a rare opportunity to fix a governance gap that has long enabled misuse of public funds under the guise of executive entitlement. OUTA has called on Parliament to adopt the bill, once formally introduced, with strengthened enforcement provisions and to champion it as a cornerstone of ethical public service.