Question NW2262 to the Minister of Public Works

Reply:

(a) The current total amount outstanding in terms of rental income for Ministerial residences is R1 214 064.23.

(b) In our analysis of how the Ministers ended up being in arrears, we found that there were a number of systemic flaws. The building up of arrears is largely not through faults of or negligence by the Ministers. It would therefore be unfair to name which Ministers are in arrears, save to mention that the problem is being addressed with the departments concerned.

(c) (i) and (ii) For security reasons we cannot disclose the location and description of each residence with outstanding rental income.

(d) The monthly rental cost for Ministerial residences ranges between R988.90 and R1 200.82.

(e) The challenge with collecting rental income for Ministerial residences is a systemic one. Once Ministerial residences have been allocated, the Department of Public Works submits the documents indicating the amounts payable monthly to the client departments, whose responsibility it is to action the stop orders from Ministers and Deputy Ministers’ monthly income. Despite numerous reminders some departments fail to action the stop orders leading to escalating debt. In the past I have engaged with Members of the Executive on the debt owed to the Department of Public Works and this was done with relative success. However, the challenge persists. Ministers are always willing to cooperate in terms of paying their monthly rentals. The challenge that we must resolve is a systemic one to ensure that the monthly rentals are collected without fail on an on-going basis.