DA shadow minister of public works and infrastructure Samantha Graham-Maré said while hospitals, businesses and households battled rolling blackouts, ministers were sitting in the lap of luxury.
“Had the ANC government truly cared about poor and vulnerable South Africans, they would have prioritised this money to ensure all hospitals and clinics had power during rolling blackouts, that crime hotspots were not without lights when load-shedding struck, and that small businesses — critical to a recovering economy — could keep operating in the dark.”
She said “government must remember it serves at the behest of the people. The people are not meant to serve them”.
“[Public works and infrastructure] Minister Patricia de Lille must use taxpayers’ money to support the poor and vulnerable, not abuse it to ensure her and her fellow fat-cat ministers’ comfort.
“ANC ministers are paid enormous salaries, and while they refuse to solve the country’s power disaster, they should at the very least pay for their own generators and fuel.”
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‘The first people to have their power cut must be ANC ministers’ — Helen Zille
Image: Freddy Mavunda
DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille has weighed in on reports that more than R2.6m was spent to keep lights on in ministers’ homes during load-shedding
A City Press report claimed the department of public works spent R1.3m last year to install generators at ministers’ houses in 2021, and another R681,000 this year. It said the cost of running the generators rose from R31,750 last year to more than R620,000 in the first half of 2022.
Load-shedding is also not a thing at homes owned by ministers in Bryntirion Estate, Pretoria. This is because of legislation ordering the lights must stay on at the Union Buildings, which shares a substation with the estate. Not all ministers stay at the estate.
Taking to social media amid the reports, Zille said ministers should be the first to experience blackouts.
DA shadow minister of public works and infrastructure Samantha Graham-Maré said while hospitals, businesses and households battled rolling blackouts, ministers were sitting in the lap of luxury.
“Had the ANC government truly cared about poor and vulnerable South Africans, they would have prioritised this money to ensure all hospitals and clinics had power during rolling blackouts, that crime hotspots were not without lights when load-shedding struck, and that small businesses — critical to a recovering economy — could keep operating in the dark.”
She said “government must remember it serves at the behest of the people. The people are not meant to serve them”.
“[Public works and infrastructure] Minister Patricia de Lille must use taxpayers’ money to support the poor and vulnerable, not abuse it to ensure her and her fellow fat-cat ministers’ comfort.
“ANC ministers are paid enormous salaries, and while they refuse to solve the country’s power disaster, they should at the very least pay for their own generators and fuel.”
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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