After questions were raised last month about R2.8 million in bonuses that was paid to Department of Communications (DOC) staff, it has now emerged this figure is actually more than R3.5 million.
When Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of communications Marian Shinn asked communications minister Yunus Carrim about a discrepancy between his parliamentary reply and the department's 2012/13 annual report, Carrim conceded an "internal error" led to him providing the incorrect information.
"The department gave me those figures, obviously, and admits there was an internal error in reporting that 167 employees received bonuses to an amount of [more than R2.8 million]. We apologise for the discrepancy and commit that going forward we will conduct quality reviews and checks," says Carrim.
He notes the correct number of employees who received bonuses this year is 153, at a total amount of R3.574 million.
Shinn says she noticed the discrepancy between the two amounts and wanted to clarify this with Carrim, but still feels the bonuses paid were justified. "As I previously said, even though the department failed to meet its targets, there were people who worked exceptionally hard and it is not fair for them to be penalised because the department's targets weren't met." She points out that the bonuses did not go to senior management staff, but to those in the lower ranks.
Anton Alberts, Freedom Front Plus Parliamentary spokesperson, says that the new information on the DOC bonuses is indicative of "the hole getting deeper and deeper" and the disregard with which the government treats the taxpayer and South Africans in general.
"[Translation] The taxpayer is being bled dry with increasing taxes, such as e-tolls, while government uses the money to create more unnecessary government positions where unqualified people are employed on the basis of affirmative action, which in turn leads to poor service delivery that affects the poorest the most. It is a vicious circle," he says.
"[Translation] What achievements can the DOC show to justify this many bonuses being paid out? Did the DOC play a role to make South Africans' lives any better, for example, with access to Internet? The answer is no, no, no!"
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