De Lille sends letters of demand to ministers for failing to pay rent

Public Works Minister Patricia De Lille is scrambling to round up rent from current and former MPs and fellow ministers who appear to have defaulted on their obligations to fork out for their state-subsidised homes. 

De Lille is seeking R8 million and has sent out “dozens” of letters of demand to figures such as Nomvula Mokonyane, Fikile Mbalula, Bathabile Dlamini, Malusi Gigaba, Buti Manamela and Kebby Maphatsoe, the Sunday Times reported on 14 March. 

MPs and Ministers required to pay nominal rates for state housing  

The failure by Minister and MPs to pay nominal rentals came to light in reply to a question to De Lille in parliament by IFP MP Mthokozisi Nxumalo earlier this week, with De Lille having sent the letters after correspondence from department officials was ignored. Sunday Times reported that some former ministers responded to officials and made payment arrangements.

According to the government handbook, Members of parliament and Ministers may, for official purposes, “occupy a State-owned residence in the seat of office free of charge”.

Members of the executive stay rent-free in one house allocated in either Cape Town or Pretoria and pay 1% of their salary to stay in another. Payment is understood to be collected through a stop-order debit system, although the Sunday Times reported that some ministers prefer to pay the full amount of their yearly rent upfront via EFT.

Ministers ‘unaware’ of unpaid rent 

A number of the Ministers are understood to have denied the allegations that they have failed to pay rent, and have instead insisted that the failure surely lies with the Department of Public Works for not having successfully collected the owed funds through the established debit orders. 

Former Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane and current deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Maphatsoe denied having been made aware of their unpaid bills.

“I never received a bill,” said Mokonyane in a text response to Sunday Times questions about her alleged R80 000 unpaid bill, and Maphatsoe said he the R25 208 he allegedly owes in rent should have been deducted from his salary through the ministry.

“When they arrange your salary advice, they also deduct that money that is supposed to go to public works,” he told the newspaper. 

“If indeed it’s true that they had not been deducting that money when I was deputy minister, if they did not deduct it, I will have to check with them why they did not deduct it. And I would not have a problem paying public works if the department did not pay it,” he said.