Cash-strapped South Africans are expected to part with even more of their hard-earned cash at the end of this month, following the reported removal of the R5 000 utilities cap for ministers.
Some ministers are already exempt from blackouts as they reside in key-point areas, while IOL has previously reported that other ministers are exempt from load shedding thanks to the installation of generators at their homes.
While ministers previously had to make up the shortfall on their water and krag bills, they will no longer have to do so.
Responding to the cap removal, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called on opposition parties to hold each other to account.
Speaking to eNCA, Outa’s legal head Stefanie Fick said ministers are already earning moerse salaries, and political parties should be able to hold each other accountable to make sure this doesn’t happen.
“It is always civil society that has to be angry about these things and do something about it, and put it out there, so there is a public discourse, and hopefully, someone does something about it,” Fick said.
She said while ministers are entitled to perks, these benefits need to be reviewed holistically.
“We need to look at the economic position that South Africans find ourselves in. We have gone through Covid and State capture and know the enormous amount of monies that left SA, and we are struggling," Fick added.
The DA’s Leon Schreiber said that with the cost of electricity increasing by 356% over the last decade and the battling power giant’s further increase of 32% next year, the removal of the cap will see taxpayers forking out even more for ministers, reports IOL.