With all these disturbing newspaper reports regarding the self-enrichment of government ministers relentlessly pursuing luxurious lifestyles at the expense of the tax-paying electorate, one is reminded of Captain Thomas Sankara, a young officer who took over the government of the then Upper Volta, West Africa, in 1983 and set in motion a new ethos of responsible and accountable spending of public funds by government officials.
Immediately after taking over the reins, Sankara auctioned off the German luxury vehicles that made up the fleet of the ruling elite. He embarrassed and angered these wabenzi – Swahili for ‘the people of the Mercedes Benz’ – by replacing their flashy wheels with the modest Renault 5, at the time the cheapest model in the country. Back in present-day South Africa, government ministers continue to justify their extravagant spending on expensive cars – fitted with all the luxurious accessories – by quoting the ministerial handbook.
This despite the fact that last year there was a public outcry against such excesses. The ministerial handbook – “a guideline for benefits and privileges, to which Members and their families are entitled, in the execution of their duties” – lists a substantial number of extravagant travel benefits, those pertaining to motor transport and air travel being most prominent.
Sankara would have been shocked by such unnecessary privileges of office bearers in a country where poor people are faced with exorbitant transport fares for the moving coffins we call taxis as well as unreliable rail transport.
Chapter 5 of the ministerial handbook states that, “Members may utilise official vehicles allocated to them at the expense of the State for any reasonable purpose.” It also indicates that, “within reason, official vehicles, which do not form the basis of a taxable benefit, may also be used for private purposes such as transporting school going children to school” provided (i) “family members of Members may travel with them in official vehicles”, (ii) “spouses with a valid driver’s license may drive the official vehicles allocated to Members at any time, including times when the Members are not in the vehicle”.
In terms of costs, the good book says that, “the total purchase price of the vehicle chosen by the Member may not exceed 70% of the inclusive annual remuneration package of a Minister” in the case of a minister or premier. This in effect means that national ministers and premiers – who earn R1.8 million and R1.6 million respectively – are guaranteed some of the most expensive wheels on the market, just below the Lamborghinis and Aston Martins of this world.
And while it has become a norm in this country for the ministers, their deputies and directors-general to enjoy annual salary increases, Thomas Sankara angered his ministers by reducing their salaries, forbidding the use of government chauffeurs and first-class airline tickets. Like millions of his citizens, Sankara himself was known to have pedalled to his presidential office every morning on a bicycle.
Contrast this austere approach towards governance with the lavish air travel allowances the ministerial handbook guarantees our office bearers. In Chapter 3 it states that: “Members and their spouses are jointly entitled to 30 (thirty) single domestic business class flight tickets per annum at the expense of the relevant Department. The use of privilege tickets are at the discretion of the National Member and may in some cases be exchanged for use by a child minder or other domestic workers in the personal employ of the Member.”
It further states that “these tickets can be utilised by family members of the Member on an exchange basis, with the condition that when family members travel alone, the tickets should be booked in economy class” while “notwithstanding the provisions above, dependent children are each entitled to six (6) single domestic economy class tickets per annum to reunite with their parents during the Member’s regular travel between Cape Town and Pretoria.”
Of course, there is also a whole slew of mind-boggling perks related to housing and hotel allowances. One is convinced that unscrupulous ministers such as Sicelo Shiceka and Nathi Mthethwa, who have been exposed for their free-spending ways, would have no office in Thomas Sankara’s cabinet. But the problem is that while one is not excusing the ministers’ excesses, it is understandable why some of them pursue this crass materialism and conspicuous consumption: the ministerial handbook.
It is a dubious document that begins by cautioning members against, amongst other things, “using their position or any information entrusted to them, to enrich themselves or improperly benefit any other person” and “exposing themselves to any situation involving the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their financial and/or personal interests” (Executive Ethics Code, Chapter 1).
But it is difficult to take this seriously considering that politicians who have been exposed to lavish lifestyles often point at the handbook to justify their actions. What clouds the issue is that the handbook is supposed to be a “confidential” document – thus not open to public scrutiny despite the fact that public funds are at the centre of the lavish spending in a country with a government preaching transparency.
It seems to be a case of sheer double standards. In a country where the ruling elite created a wide chasm between itself by making empty promises but practising self-enrichment in classic Orwellian style, Sankara identified himself fully with his fellow countrymen and women – the majority of whom were poor, uneducated and exploited. He refused to put his image in public places and official buildings, arguing that “there are millions of Thomas Sankaras in Burkina Faso” – a name he personally chose for his country because he envisioned it as the land of the incorruptible or honourable men, which is what Burkina Faso means.
He shunned luxuries such as air conditioning in his office because he said such a luxury was not available to the average Burkinabes. He lowered his presidential salary to a pittance and confined his ascetic lifestyle to the bare necessities. Although Sankara’s exemplary, inexpensive lifestyle, pro-poor reforms and courageous people-centred leadership didn’t go down well with his colleagues, who finally assassinated him after four years in office, his legacy is a shining example to all leaders everywhere in the world – particularly in developing economies.
“Thomas knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work,” Sankara’s wife, Mariam, said after his death. “What remains above all of my husband is his integrity.”
By the time you read this, the “toilet elections” will be history. But following the debacle over open toilets – using the plight of the poor as a political football to score cheap electoral points – one finds it hard to identify a leader within the ruling party with the type of integrity attributed to Thomas Sankara.
Source : The Afropolitan Magazin http://www.afropolitan.co.za/features-a-columns/dr-magaugau/186-thomas-sankara-a-selfless-and-incorruptible-leader-with-a-proud-legacy
