Seventy-one ANC MPs and five from the EFF have lost their plum jobs as legislators after their parties lost parliamentary seats to former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) in the watershed general election.
While they are entitled to their pensions and loss-of-office gratuities, the former MPs will lose their R1.2m annual income and many other perks.
Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said: “For all members who have served five years or longer [they receive]: loss-of-office gratuity equal to four months’ pensionable salary for every five years served; 12 single domestic economy air tickets allocated annually for a period of five years after exit; subsidised medical aid contributions [of] up to 66.67%. The subsidy ranges from 31.67% for one year of service to 66.67% for eight years or more service. Members lose all other facilities they enjoyed while in office.”
While political parties are conducting coalition talks this week as the 2024 national and provincial elections did not produce a clear winner, the ANC was described by the opposition as the biggest loser at the polls as it lost its absolute majority in the National Assembly.
Some of its MPs could thus soon find themselves in the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) queues. While the president earns about R4.2m annually, the deputy president and speaker of parliament take home about R3m each, and ministers earn about R2.5m annually.
Humiliating defeat
The ANC suffered its most humiliating defeat in 30 years as its share of the vote plunged about 17 percentage points, from 57% in 2019 to 40% this year. That means it will have 159 seats, down from the 230 seats it received in 2019.
ANC member and former agriculture, land reform & rural development deputy minister Mcebisi Skwatsha is number 165 on the ANC’s national to national candidate list, so he will not be returning to the National Assembly.
“I serve at the behest of the electorate. I will not be going back to parliament. I have done my bit and I have no regrets. I thank my movement for having allowed me to serve our people,” Skwatsha said.
The DA received 3.5-million votes, or 21.81%, which translates to 87 seats in the National Assembly (it received 84 seats in 2019). MK received 58 seats; EFF 39 (44 in 2019); IFP 17 (14); Patriotic Alliance nine; Freedom Front Plus six (10); ACDP three (four); UDM three (two); ATM two (unchanged from 2019); Al Jama-ah two (one); PAC one (unchanged from 2019); and GOOD one (two).
On the EFF national candidates list, former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is number 40, while former cabinet spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi is 41, with former MP Yoliswa Yako at 66. Mkhwebane was sworn in as an EFF MP in October 2023, a month after she was impeached as public protector. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
With the MK party taking 58 members to parliament, it is not yet clear who will make the cut, despite the party having submitted its list of candidates to the IEC.
Zuma is first on the list, but the Constitutional Court ruled in May he was not eligible to be an MP, citing his criminal record stemming from a 15-month jail term handed down by the apex court in 2021 for failure to comply with its order to appear before state capture hearings into high-level corruption during his presidency.
Former finance minister Des van Rooyen is number 12 on the list, Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is 18. Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela is number 25. Former party leader Jabulani Khumalo, who has since fallen out with Zuma and was expelled from the party, is second on the list.
Update: June 3, 2024
This article has been updated with comment from parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
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