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ActionSA can reveal that, contrary to repeated claims that DA Ministers in the GNU do not utilise blue lights, the Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, enjoys the perks of multiple blue-light luxury SUVs, including an Audi Q7, BMW X5, and Toyota Prado, each with a purchase price conservatively exceeding R1-million.

Steenhuisen’s own written reply to ActionSA’s Parliamentary Question is a striking revelation that contradicts DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille’s public assertions that no DA Minister makes use of blue lights, as he now confirms that each of his luxury SUVs are “fitted with blue lights and the appropriate signalling systems”.

While Steenhuisen tried to project the image of travelling in a modest Toyota Cross, his own reply reveals that he actually enjoys the comfort of a fleet of three blue-light luxury SUVs. While certainly not unique to Steenhuisen, this is emblematic of the extravagant luxury afforded to Ministers, where parking lots, such as those of Parliament, resemble luxury vehicle showrooms rather than institutions focused on prioritising the work of the people of South Africa.

The hollow claims of standing against wasteful expenditure and the abuse of state resources only lend credence to evident concerns that the GNU has become nothing more than a convenient political arrangement between the ANC and DA, offering no real reforms but instead serving as a marriage of convenience driven by the division of cushy cabinet positions and their associated perks.

While SAPS battles to equip police stations with basic vehicles, crippling its ability to combat escalating violent crime and leaving South Africans vulnerable, the bloated billion-rand Cabinet live in a bubble of luxury and security -- paid for by the very taxpayers who are being forced to tighten their belts.

Further burdening taxpayers, revelations in response to ActionSA’s Parliamentary questions regarding Ministerial travel expose eye-watering amounts spent on overseas travel and related perks, clearly illustrating that the GNU operates more like a jet-setting government than a modest caring one, with Ministers and Deputy Ministers, accompanied by inexplicably large staff complements, frequently travelling internationally at the expense of taxpayers.

ActionSA will fight tirelessly to end this profligate travel and put a stop to the unchecked extravagance and patronage enjoyed by the partners in the grand coalition, who are clearly unwilling to give up self-serving excesses that fly in the face of the poverty that is the daily fare of millions of South Africans who go to bed hungry each day.

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary Leader Dereleen James