A Member of Parliament (MP) for Mechachane constituency N0.I, Nyapane Kaya, has appealed to government to reduce the size of cabinet in order to reduce government spiraling expenditure.
Kaya made this appeal when debating on a motion on financial policy tabled by the Minister of Finance Dr. Moeketsi Majoro on Thursday last week.
He made an example of the education and training ministry, arguing that it has a minister and two deputy ministers, which he said was not benefiting the country and therefore not necessary.
Kaya also questioned the decision by the government not to increase public servants’ salaries after the finance minister recommended a zero percent increment for the 2019/20 financial year despite the inflation rate been reported to be 8.6 percent. He pointed out that this could lead to public servants not delivering quality services which could lead to poor service delivery.
He accused the government of embezzlement of funds, citing a case where cabinet ministers’ wives were taken for a retreat, arguing that the money which was used had not been budgeted for.
He questioned what he called a too huge size of Prime Minister’s delegation that went to the United Nations (UN) in the United Sates of America complaining that even though a question was asked in the National Assembly seeking answers on the actual amount spend by the government, there was still no answer given.
However, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Teboho Lehloenya, responded that the question was eventually answered after being deferred several times, without giving out the details.
Kaya also weighed in on the ongoing saga around wool and mohair complaining that livestock owners from his constituency of Mechechane had not been paid their dues, alleging that even the few who were paid received less than what they were expecting, far less than what they used to get the previous years, despite their stock having been increased in numbers.
He said out of frustration, the farmers were forced to either slaughter their stock or sell them since they had nothing to take care of their families.
The Member of Parliamet for Thabana Morena constituency N0. 62, Selibe Mochoboroane, said the ongoing teachers’ strike had led to school children loitering in the streets where they risk being easily led astray.
He therefore appealed to the government to address the teachers’ demands by giving them the 8% salary increment as recommended by the Economic and Development Cluster.
However, communications minister, Chief Thesele ‘Maseribane, said the government was clear on the teachers’ demand that just like the public servants, the teachers would not get any increment for the current financial year.
He said in relation to the issue of wool and mohair, the government has made a resolution that it should be sold in the country and not in Port Elizabeth anymore.
Chief ‘Maseribane said the government was looking at the bigger picture such as creation and tax collection among others.