ActionSA has announced a legislative package aimed at cutting the cabinet and tackling corruption.
ActionSA MP Athol Trollip said the party would table a constitutional amendment to scrap deputy ministers, citing the need to address “government wastage” and “close the taps on executive wastage” amid South Africa's fiscal crisis.
He said this amendment will be introduced in conjunction with another that requires parliamentary ratification of cabinet appointments.
“ActionSA’s cabinet reform package offers a solution to eliminate R1.5bn in taxpayer funds squandered on a bloated executive every year,” Trollip said. “This indulgence in wasteful perks allows 32 ministers, 43 deputy ministers and their large staff complements to live in luxury while demanding that taxpayers, who fund their billion-rand rock star lifestyles, tighten their belts and accept potential tax increases.”
Additionally, ActionSA plans to introduce the “cut cabinet perks bill”, which aims to reduce ministerial allowances, housing perks, travel expenses and VIP protection.
“The extent of this waste continues to be exposed in our GNU performance tracker which reveals that, in the first few months since their appointment in July 2024, just over half of the ministers have cumulatively blown R143.5m on travel alone.
“ActionSA’s cabinet reform package introduces groundbreaking reforms that will right-size the cabinet, introduce robust oversight of the appointment of ministers, and curb excessive luxuries that have led to taxpayer funds being squandered on the lavish lifestyles of a bloated political elite.”
The party's third legislative bill, the "zero tolerance corruption bill", aims to strengthen the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca) of 2004.
“In tackling these failures, exposed most notably during the most egregious era of state capture, ActionSA’s legislative action focuses on strengthening Precca to effectively combat corruption and punish those who perpetrate it.
“By expanding the definition of corruption, to explicitly include the abuse of political power, price-gouging in public procurement and gross negligence, the bill will close key loopholes. It will criminalise the non-reporting of corruption, extend liability to those who should have been aware of corrupt activities but failed to act, and encompass private-sector corruption to reinforce corporate accountability.”
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