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ActionSA can reveal that South Africa’s 43 redundant Deputy Ministers alone cost taxpayers over R500 million each year, while the combined cost of Ministers and Deputy Ministers exceeds R3 billion annually. These eye-watering figures exclude the use of luxury perks such as state-owned houses in both Cape Town and Pretoria, and official vehicles of more than R1 million each.

Through robust research and consistent advocacy, ActionSA, as South Africa’s constructive opposition in Parliament, has analysed ministerial and support staff salaries, the cost of VIP protection, travel and accommodation, and the value of ministerial residences and vehicles. 

Salaries and support staff

By analysing the Ministerial Handbook, which outlines ministerial remuneration and support staff structures, and verifying this information through parliamentary replies, ActionSA has determined that each Minister costs taxpayers approximately R8.9 million per year, comprising a salary of R2.69 million and support staff salaries totalling R6.2 million. Each Deputy Minister, in turn, costs around R7.4 million per year, including a salary of R2.215 million and support staff salaries of R5.2 million.

Taken together, South Africa’s 32 Ministers and 43 Deputy Ministers, along with their support staff, cost taxpayers an estimated R603 million annually, comprising R285 million for Ministers and R318 million for Deputy Ministers.

VIP protection

According to the Police Ministry’s budget, the total annual cost of VIP protection services for the President, Deputy President, and other dignitaries , including Ministers and Deputy Ministers, amounts to R2.18 billion.

A parliamentary reply indicated that R33 million of this total is spent solely on protecting Deputy Ministers, underscoring either their minimal security relevance yet significant financial cost, or a grossly underreported figure considering the security complement assigned to each Deputy Minister.

Travel and accommodation

The Ministerial Handbook entitles Ministers and Deputy Ministers to business-class travel for flights exceeding two hours and five-star hotel accommodation or equivalent.

Through ongoing parliamentary questions, ActionSA has tracked these expenditures and found that in the first year of the GNU, the executive spent R300 million in recorded travel and accommodation costs. 

Given unanswered and incomplete replies, taken together with established expenditure patterns, ActionSA estimates that Ministers and Deputy Ministers together spend R350 million annually, with roughly half of this, R175 million, attributable to Deputy Ministers.

Total Annual Cost of the Cabinet

Ministerial Residences and Vehicles

In addition to the annual costs outlined above, Ministers and Deputy Ministers are entitled to a range of generous perks. Each enjoys the use of an official state-owned residence in Cape Town, with an average market value of R4.4 million, while most also have access to a state-owned residence in Pretoria, valued on average at R2 million. Furthermore, according to a Treasury instruction issued under the GNU, the price threshold for official vehicles has been increased from R800,000 to R1.1 million.

Combined, Deputy Ministers are entitled to residences with a total market value of approximately R416 million and luxury vehicles worth up to R82.5 million.

ActionSA’s Cabinet Reform Package

While these expenditures are officially justified, they constitute extravagant use of taxpayer funds at a time when millions of South Africans are unemployed and essential services are underfunded. 

It is for this reason that ActionSA has already introduced two key pieces of legislation to cut cabinet perks and abolish the role of Deputy Minister altogether. 

1. Constitutional Amendment to Abolish Deputy Ministers:
This amendment seeks the complete abolition of the role of Deputy Minister, eliminating 43 redundant positions and saving the country billions of rands. Deputy Ministers have become nothing more than politically connected figureheads, glorified doormen and women, serving party interests rather than the public good.

2. Enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill:
This bold intervention aims to slash the bloated costs of one of the world’s largest cabinets and to bring long-overdue transparency and oversight to the Ministerial Handbook.

These reforms are not symbolic. They are designed to save taxpayers an estimated R1.5 billion a year, right-size government, and reinvest in the priorities that matter: jobs, basic services, and infrastructure. 

ActionSA will continue to fight for transparent, accountable governance, champion policies that reduce wasteful spending, and ensure that every rand of taxpayer money is used to benefit South Africans, not a cabinet bloated for political expediency.

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip MP