The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) has called for transparency around the identity and appointment of special advisers to the president, deputy president, ministers and premiers, which costs taxpayers millions of rand each year.
The foundation, an independent think-tank promoting liberal democracy in the country, said transparency would prevent cadre deployment, nepotism and the appointment of unqualified individuals as special advisers.
It was also vital that the identities of such persons be publicised to enable others to assess their suitability for the position, interrogate whether they have appropriate qualifications, are not being overpaid, and that taxpayers’ money is not being wasted.
The appointment of special advisers by ministers has been shrouded in a veil of secrecy and controversy.
In July 2021, transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s special adviser, Lawrence Venkile, agreed to repay R460,000 after being overpaid following his irregular appointment in 2019. The public protector found that Mbalula irregularly appointed special advisers Venkile and Bongisizwe Mpondo, as well as legal adviser Kaiser Khoza, without then-public service and administration minister Senzo Mchunu’s approval.
In January 2020, then-human settlements, water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu came under fire following her appointment of former National Director of Public Prosecutions advocate Menzi Simelane and former intelligence head Mo Shaik as special advisers, at a cost of R1.9m a year.
Sisulu defended the appointments, saying the advisers — Shaik holds an optometry degree — were suitably qualified to advise her. Shaik, however, later resigned from the post.
When Des van Rooyen was appointed as finance minister in 2016, he brought along Gupta associates Ian Whitley and Mohamad Bobat to the Treasury as his special advisers. It was said at the time that neither Bobat nor Whitely were acquainted with Van Rooyen, and that they had been imposed by the Guptas. The Gupta family are friends of former president Jacob Zuma, and are accused of state capture, which cost SA an estimated R500bn.
Ashok Narayan, another Gupta associate, reportedly served as an adviser to former Free State premier and now suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, when plans were laid out to establish the controversial Vrede dairy project.
Speaking to Business Day on Monday, HSF legal researcher Zeenat Emmamally, who wrote the report, said the salaries of special advisers were set out in the “Dispensation for the Appointment and Remuneration of Persons (Special advisers) Appointed to Executive Authorities on Ground of Policy Considerations in terms of Section 12A of the Public Service Act, 1994 (with effect from April 1 2019)”.
The dispensation provides for four compensation levels, depending on the adviser’s level of expertise and stature in the particular field. The minimum amount of compensation per adviser per year is R1,057,326, and the maximum compensation is R2,228,820.
“The HSF believes monitoring is required because of the potentially large amounts of money that goes towards paying the salaries of special advisers. As stated in my brief, if every minister in the 2019-2021 cabinet and every premier took on two full-time special advisers (as they are entitled to), at the maximum compensation level allowed, it could have cost as much as R164,932,680 per year,” said Emmamally.
“Monitoring is also required because in the past, advisers have been appointed even when they were unqualified for the position, or have been appointed through allegedly irregular processes,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the tax implications are simply unclear since, despite HSF’s enquiries to premiers and ministers, we still don’t know how many special advisers are appointed, and what compensation level is applied to them. Until transparency is achieved, we won’t know how much tax money goes towards the salaries of special advisers.”
Currently, the appointment and identity of special advisers comes to light “if MPs pose a question in the National Assembly to a specific minister inquiring if any special advisers have been appointed, and who they are”, the Helen Suzman Foundation said in its report dated September 9 and titled, “unveiling the power behind the throne: who are the special advisers?”.
Since the special advisers’ advice may materially influence the decisions taken by executive authority, the Helen Suzman Foundation said “it is crucial to ensure that the persons who have the ear of government are properly qualified”.
“Unfortunately, this has not always been the reality. Earlier this year, former minister of mineral resources Mosebenzi Zwane admitted that he had appointed two special advisers ‘without any knowledge of what they were doing for a living’, or even if they were qualified for the position.”
Zwane told the state capture commission in April that he had appointed Malcolm Mabaso and Kuben Moodley as his advisers just because he could trust them.
Both Mabaso and Moodley were in business with Gupta lieutenant Salim Essa but Zwane told commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, that he was not aware of their business interests.
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