Western Cape premier Alan Winde to 'trim the fat' and 'sweat his assets'

Western Cape premier Alan Winde will, proverbially or otherwise, be "trimming the fat" and "sweating his assets" as he seeks to join other provincial leaders in cutting down ministerial costs and departments.

Speaking to CapeTalk radio on Tuesday, Winde said he would be reviewing work already done in 2011 aimed at cutting costs in the provincial cabinet to improve on the R100m he said has been saved already.

"We already did all this when we rewrote our handbook in 2011," he said. "We cut down business-class flights and changed our vehicle policy."

"That saved us over R100m, which then went back into the pool and was put to where it needs to go to.

"I've now called for a review of the handbook to see if there are other areas we can trim."

In the Northern Cape, premier Zamani Saul has pledged to sell the state house and use the money to further education in the province, while Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha has done away with any swearing-in festivities for his cabinet.

Winde has already announced that his cabinet will be subject to "lifestyle audits" to  ensure that the cars in their garages are not being upgraded unnecessarily.

While Winde will not be following his colleague in Limpopo's lead, he did acknowledge that a revised plan for state residence Leeuwenhof has been on his mind.

"I've been asking about Leeuwenhof for a while now," he said. "Is it something we should sell off?" he asked the radio station. "I think we definitely need to sweat the asset more. We might have offices there but any changes must go through a process so that neighbours have a chance to comment," he said.

"How do we use the asset far more often, perhaps even for Saturday afternoon jazz concerts? I'm also open to suggestions," he said.