Pravin Gordhan promises belt-tightening but ministers spend, spend, spend
Ministers continue to spend millions on luxury cars despite Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s promises of restraint and belt-tightening in the medium-term budget policy statement this week. The culprit is the as yet unamended ministerial handbook, which has been subject to review for over five years and which continues to allow ministers to spend, spend, spend. Promises that the handbook — which provides guidelines on what ministers and deputy ministers are allowed to spend on vehicles, accommodation, security etc — will be changed have yielded nothing. DA finance spokesman David Maynier has pointed out that the adjusted estimates of expenditure for 2016-17 reveals "shocking levels of wasteful expenditure" amounting to over R1bn. Among the adjustments is R2m in legal fees for the president. The expenditure comes at the same time that Gordhan has warned taxpayers that they will have to face tax increases of R28bn next year. Also included in the adjusted budget tabled in Parliament th...
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