WATCH | LOL! Chester Missing takes on ministers getting 'free electricity and water'

Political analyst puppet Chester Missing has weighed in on reports that ministers and deputy ministers are exempt from load-shedding and do not pay a cent for electricity and water. 

In a funny short clip, the puppet questioned the logic behind the claims, saying it's not like they are doing any work. 

“What does [transport minister] Fikile Mbalula need to be available for 24 hours a day? Does he have an emergency selfie he needs to take or a high priority — TikTok — he needs to see to?

“Does [public enterprise minister] Pravin Gordhan really need electricity so he can do what he has been doing about load-shedding this entire time: absolutely freaken nothing? You don't need electricity to do nothing, Pravin. Ask home affairs [department],” Chester Missing joked. 

Chester Missing said the economy would do better if they took away the electricity portfolio from energy minister Gwede Mantashe. 

“With the amount of sh** ministers they give us, the very least they can do is pay to flush it away,” said the puppet.

Government spokesperson Phumla Williams said the claims that ministers and their deputies don't pay a cent for municipal services were not entirely true . 

She explained that the public works department is responsible for providing water and electricity to state-owned residences.

“Those properties that are used [by the ministers and deputy ministers] remain the property of the state. Their upkeep is being overseen by the department of public works and infrastructure. This includes paying for water and electricity. 

“We would like to assure South Africans that the private properties of the members of the executive remain their responsibility, their upkeep, including the water and

electricity,” said Williams. 

Williams also denied that ministers and deputy ministers are exempt from Eskom's rolling blackouts.

“On the load-shedding, we would also like to assure South Africans that the inconvenience experienced by everybody also affected the members of the executive in the accommodation they were occupying.

“The only exemptions that were made were with the mines supplying Eskom with coal. Also, the seat of government, the Union Buildings, and parliament were exempted during this time,” she said.

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