Ministers dumped by Zuma getting millions in 'gratuities'

Cabinet ministers who resigned from parliament immediately after being dropped from President Jacob Zuma's new cabinet were not just sulking, but they opted not to lose out on millions of rands in "loss-of-office gratuities".

Former tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, who quit parliament last week after serving in the legislature for four terms - including two as cabinet minister and a short stint as premier of the Western Cape - is one of the four ministers who will be smiling all the way to the bank when their generous "gratuities" are paid.

The tip from the taxpayer is paid to MPs and ministers when they retire or resign from their positions, and is listed by the Political Office-Bearers' Pension Fund as a resignation or retirement benefit.

Van Schalkwyk stands to score just more than R2.8-million with the gratuity due to him after completing four terms as a public representative in both the Western Cape legislature and the National Assembly, from which he retired as a cabinet minister earning a gross monthly salary of R175550.

Former correctional services minister S'bu Ndebele, who served a similarly long period in political office, stands to pocket the same amount after quitting last week.

Van Schalkwyk declined to comment on the matter, saying he was no longer in public life.

Ndebele strongly denied that his resignation was motivated by the gratuity because he had not known about it when he decided to step down as an MP.

He had known about his pension, to which he had contributed for the 20 years he had been part of the executive.

"Every worker contributes to their pension. I'm not aware of the gratuity, just the pension. It's the first time that I'm retiring, so I don't know what people get when they [retire]," he said.

Asked why he had suddenly resigned as an MP once Zuma had dropped him from the cabinet, he said: "The president resigned in 2005, Comrade Baleka [Mbete] resigned, and no one asked questions of them."

He was referring to Zuma's resignation as an MP after he was fired as deputy president in 2005 and Mbete's resignation from parliament after the 2009 elections when it became clear Zuma would not make her his deputy.

Former women and children's minister Lulu Xingwana will also get a golden handshake after serving 20 years as an MP.

Former deputy minister of social development Maria Ntuli will be R2.3-million richer after serving parliament for 20 years.

Her amount is R500000 less because deputy ministers earn less than ministers.

Axed National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu, who also quit last week, goes home with R826124. Sisulu, Xingwana and Ntuli could not be reached for comment.

The salary earned by ministers on their date of retirement or resignation from parliament is used to determine the handsome loss-of-office gratuity due to them.

All ministers and MPs who complete at least a five-year term in office qualify for the benefit and receive a gratuity of four months' pensionable salary for every five years of service completed.

The former ministers would have had their gratuities cut by more than half to R1.2-million had they opted to stay on and resign later at the salaries of backbench MPs, who earn R77821 a month.

Former ANC MP Roy Ainsley, a trustee of the Political Office-Bearers' Pension Fund, said the gratuity was designed to augment the pension benefits of officials who first joined parliament in 1994.

He said that was because many had been in exile and had had no opportunity to do any work that paid them salaries and pensions. "The principle was for members who came to parliament for the first time in 1994 ... many had nothing. If you served five years, you would leave with next to nothing in terms of a pension.

"So it was a way of making up to ensure that people have something to live with."

But he said it was perhaps time to revisit the arrangement because MPs were starting younger and had enough time to build their pensions.

MPs in pound seats on back benches

Life will never be the same for some of the new MPs, many of whom emerged from nowhere to acquire cushy seats in the National Assembly.

Such a seat comes not only with political influence, but with benefits that will ensure the new MPs live quite comfortably for at least the next five years.

One such MP is the DA's Nomsa Tarabella Marchesi.

Before her election as an MP, Tarabella Marchesi was a struggling entrepreneur in Bloemfontein, Free State, who had a tough time keeping her bed and breakfast establishment afloat.

But with a secured annual salary of R933852 - which could reach the R1-million mark because of an annual pay adjustment and a host of other financial benefits - Tarabella Marchesi is sure to have fewer financial worries.

She will be living in a government-allocated house at a nominal rental of R180 to R200.

She has free school transport for her son, should she decide to move him to Cape Town. For now, he can enjoy free flights between Cape Town and Bloemfontein to visit his mother, who gets 86 single flights a year that she may share with her dependants of school-going age.

Tarabella Marchesi conceded that her life would have been much improved had she lived like this all along.

"It's sad [for] people who don't have these privileges," she said, but insisted they did not amount to a gravy train.

"Whatever privileges we have in parliament, they are there to ensure you do your job properly. That is very important.

"The fact that you are flying up and down is really to ensure that you do your job and also you are able to go to your family," said Tarabella Marchesi.

"And I think throughout the world that's what members of parliament are. If you look in Europe, that's what MPs do, but then an ordinary person would have a job that would be a well-paying job that is similar to what an MP earns.

"That's what we are saying as the DA - that we want to create jobs." - Aphiwe Deklerk