Leon Schreiber

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been informed that the disciplinary hearing of the Director-General of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Dr Dovhani Mamphiswana, will conclude today. This comes after an investigation conducted by advocate Smanga Sethene from the Office of the State Attorney recommended as far back as February that action be taken against Mamphiswana for illegally hiring his mistress as the head of professional ethics at the PSC. Seven months later, President … [Read more...] about Dear President Ramaphosa: Fire Public Service Commission Director-General or face legal action

Since Ramaphosa became President, his high-flying ministers and deputies have gallivanted overseas nearly 1 000 times Dear MyPE Since Cyril Ramaphosa became President in February 2018, members of his cabinet as well as their deputies have used taxpayer money to pay for no fewer than 949 overseas trips. Given that Ramaphosa has now been in office for 912 days, this means that his government has forced taxpayers to pay for ministers and deputies to gallivant overseas at a rate of more than … [Read more...] about Thank You for the One Thousand Overseas Trips Taxpayer!

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that, between June 2013 and March 2019, the Parliament of South Africa spent over R36 million on business class domestic flight tickets for retired ministers, deputy ministers, as well as their spouses. This information has not previously been made public, and the DA only obtained it after months of cajoling Parliament into complying with a Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) request. It is absolutely shocking that the legislative … [Read more...] about Retired cadres continue to abuse taxpayer money to fund their jet-setting lifestyles

Dear MyPE Out of every R1 paid in taxes, 58 cents now goes towards paying the salaries of public servants – and that figure may soon increase to 61 cents. Alongside explosive spending on debt repayments, which now cannibalises 22 cents out of every R1 in tax revenue, this means that almost none of the taxes paid by South Africans are used for productive investments to grow the economy. With salaries and debt devouring 80% of all tax revenue, only 20 cents out of every R1 paid in taxes is now … [Read more...] about How Much of Your Taxes Go To Public Servant Salaries

If Senzo Mchunu bends the knee before unions and ANC cadres, he must be fired Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire the Minister for Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu if he fails to cut the public wage bill by at least R37.8 billion in the 2020/21 financial year. Mchunu was issued a clear instruction by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni during his February budget: cut the public wage bill by R37.8 billion in 2020/21, by R54.9 billion … [Read more...] about Bend the Knee – Get Fired

Government adopts DA proposal for cutting the public wage bill Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the news that the government has adopted important aspects of our proposal for cutting the public wage bill. It was reported today that the government has turned its back on its original proposal to cut the wage bill by implementing a blanket freeze on wages across all salary levels in the public service. The DA has long argued against this blunt approach, as it would severely … [Read more...] about On Cutting the Wage Bill

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) can today reveal that 77% of the most highly paid millionaire managers in the public service failed to submit their 2018/19 midterm performance reviews on time by the deadline of 31 September 2019. Moreover, nearly half of all millionaire Directors-General (DGs) and Heads of Department (HODs) have, to date, completely ignored the rules by failing altogether to submit performance reviews. Each of these DGs who brazenly ignored the law and rules of … [Read more...] about Are Millionaire Managers Worth it?

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) is pleased to note that, as a direct result of our ceaseless decade-long fight to cut wasteful expenditure on maintaining the luxury lifestyles of Cabinet members, the first-ever cuts to ministerial perks have taken place. Yesterday finance minister Tito Mboweni made some tentative first improvements to the Ministerial Handbook, which we welcome as a necessary cost saver - although it is still not quite enough. The DA has been fighting since the … [Read more...] about No more Porsche’s for Politicians!

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) has established that, every year, the government spends close to R30 billion in public money to fund the millionaire lifestyles of 27 650 managers in the public service. This staggering expenditure emerged from a series of parliamentary questions asked by the DA over the past few months. It also illustrates just how top-heavy the South African state has become as a consequence of the ANC’s cadre deployment policy. According to the Minister of Public … [Read more...] about R30 Billion per year on Millionaire Managers