There’s an old saying that the way to avoid being stabbed in the back (especially if you’re a politician) is to keep your enemies close and your friends even closer.
We would add that keeping them fat an happy is also of critical importance in the dog-eat-dog world of ANC politics.
That could be why the ministerial handbook (or should that be “handout book”?) was adjusted by President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap a R5 000 limit on the amount Cabinet members could claim for water and power.
They also get – in addition to a salary of R2.5 million a year – free internet and DStv for “official purposes”; moving costs for up to two state-owned residences; free flights; train travel; airport VIP lounges; subsistence and travel allowance. They got a paltry three percent increase.
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That alone, though, is more than the whole annual minimum wage for South Africans lucky enough to have a job. We don’t seem to get a lot for our money as taxpayers, at least judging by the way most ministerial portfolios are falling apart before our very eyes.
The ANC seems to think it is the new royalty. They need to be reminded about what happened in the French Revolution.
