The Minister of Electricity might cost South Africa more than R37 million, according to the DA

According to Leon Schreiber, a Democratic Alliance (DA) public service and administration specialist, South Africa’s new power minister might cost the government more than R37 million per year (pictured).

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new position on Thursday, 9 January 2023, at his State of the Nation Address.

Schreiber, on the other hand, feels a more suitable title would be Minister of ANC Load-shedding.

“To add insult to injury, Ramaphosa has clearly chosen to abuse the load-shedding crisis to create more cushy jobs for useless cadres,” Schreiber said.

“Following the announcement, the DA has used the Ministerial Handbook to calculate the minimum cost to taxpayers that this new ministry will entail.”

Schreiber stated that they assumed Ramaphosa would select a deputy minister who would get a same salary package and privileges as other ministers.

VIP protection for the minister and deputy will be the most expensive for taxpayers, at R8 million apiece.

Salary packages for those working in the minister’s office will be roughly R8.6 million:

The deputy minister’s office, on the other hand, might incur annual costs of R4.8 million.

“The Handbook currently entitles every Minister to employ 11 people in their private office, while the Deputy Minister gets 7,” Schreiber noted.

The minister’s and deputy minister’s salaries are R2.4 million and R2 million, respectively.

Schreiber also budgeted for four luxury automobiles, two for the minister and two for the deputy. The cars’ cost is projected to be R3.2 million.

This is due to finance minister Enoch Godongwana discreetly raising the maximum car cost for ministers to R800,000 per vehicle.

All of these expenses add up to about R37 million per year, but Schreiber points out that this does not cover the expenditures of the four official homes, domestic and foreign travel, office renting, and department setup.

It should be noted that Ramaphosa stated that the new Minister of Electricity will sit in the Presidency, implying that Schreiber may be underestimating the expenses.

During his speech on Thursday, Ramaphosa stated that he would appoint a Minister of Electrical to the Presidency who would be in charge of monitoring all parts of the electricity crisis response.

“The Minister of Electricity will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load-shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay,” he said.

The table below provides a summary of Schreiber’s calculations