South African Members of Parliament (MPs) take home a pretty decent cheque at the end of each month, and then there are the gifts.

We ran through some of those yesterday, including Cuban cigars, herbal miracle cream and fur coats, which came to light because all MPs are required to make annual declarations of gifts they receive with a value in excess of R500.

Also contained in the report of declarations of financial and other interests by MPs for the year 2017 is a look at who owns property and how much, and in that regard President Cyril Ramaphosa leads the charge.

Business Day reports:

…President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the pack, with 32 apartments and townhouses listed in his name…

According to the disclosures‚ two of Ramaphosa’s properties are small flats in Cape Town — measuring 70m² and 75m² — while the rest are townhouses in Johannesburg. Seven of the townhouses are in retirement villages.

Don’t forget about that stunner in Fresnaye.

Ramaphosa also declared his substantial financial interests in cattle and game farming‚ as well as abattoirs. His Ntaba Nyoni Estates is listed as “Game Farming (Loan Account)” with a nominal value of R120.7m while his cattle interests are declared as Ntaba Nyoni Feedlot (Loan Account) valued at R6m.

Well, he’s been a successful businessman for decades now, so why shouldn’t he have a few properties tucked up his sleeves.

The same article lists other MPs who might be called “property moguls”, and that also makes for interesting reading:

• The ANC’s Millicent Manana said she had 17 properties to her name‚ 10 of which are cluster homes. The properties are in Ermelo and Witbank.
• The DA’s Michael Bagraim has 15 properties registered to him‚ all of which are in Cape Town.
• Dennis Gamede of the ANC declared eight properties. Two of these were listed as shops.
• COPE’s Mosioua Lekota is also a notable property owner. Lekota says he has a piece of agricultural land in Jacobsdal and business premises in Orange Farm. He said he had five residential properties and another piece of land intended for the development of residential property.
• Livhuhani Mabija of the ANC declared three open sites in Muledzhi Village in Limpopo‚ two in Mutodi Village and three houses in three Limpopo villages.

Not bad going, Millicent, and Michael Bagraim’s doing very well to afford 15 properties in Cape Town.

And here we are dreaming about owning one property in Higgovale – although it is a R15 million beaut.

Got in the wrong game, man, because serving the people seems to be rather lucrative.

[source:businessday]