[imagesource: TimesLIVE / File photo]

Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests recently published the latest register of members’ interests.

It covers 2019, the first year of five for our current members of parliament (MPs), and offers an enlightening, and at times odd, look into some of the perks of the job.

This is aside from their salaries, which, for the lowest ranking members, start from R1,14 million a year, right up to R2,8 million a year for National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) speakers and our deputy president, David Mabuza.

President Cyril Ramaphosa takes home R2,99 million a year.

Let’s start with some of the stranger gifts, via TimesLIVE:

Cooperative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma declared a long list of gifts she had received from a “family friend” — saying that most of the gifts had been less than R1,500. Her gifts included flowers, pyjamas, a wall mat, horns, clay pots, earrings, tea and a dinner set.

Did that friend’s name start with an A, perchance?

EFF leader Julius Malema declared a short list of gifts ranging from books and flowers to free Soweto derby tickets. His most expensive gift was a cellphone — a S8 Galaxy — worth R11,000, which was sponsored by Telkom.

That’s small fry compared to DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach, who had a legal bill in excess of R2 million paid for by the FW de Klerk Foundation, as well as a plane ticket worth R55 000 and a “weeklong holiday’ of unknown value gifted to her.

DA leader John Steenhuisen was given some Jonny Walker Black Label whisky by the Taiwan consulate, estimated to be worth around R2 500, and cigars and coffee from the Cuban Foreign Service.

Our esteemed Minister of Police Bheki Cele – you know, the guy pictured up top with the wannabe gangster hat glued to his head – was gifted a Patek Philippe luxury watch worth more than R750 000 from the King of Saudi Arabia.

I would be flogging that straight away.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize received two sheep, worth around R1 200 a pop, from the KwaZulu-Natal royal houses, and a few other goodies, according to another TimesLIVE report:

He also received a photo frame containing a knobkerrie, paintings, rooibos tea, notebooks and pens, an ANC bag and party T-shirts, along with bottles of wine, biltong and nuts, a powerbank from Iqbal Survé and fitbit watches.

Besides the sheep, the next most expensive item he received as a gift was a bottle of Santiago de Cuba Ron Rum and a coffee and tea set from the Cuban ambassador worth R900.

He was also gifted “Cape vintage reserve red wine” — two bottles worth R500 — and a R750 bottle of Pyccknn Ctahoapt vodka by the ambassador of the Russian Federation.

No mention of his association with Digital Vibes, of course, with further news breaking last night making the connection between Mkhize and the misspent COVID-19 funds even clearer.

All in all, serving the people pays handsomely, and that’s just what’s happening above board.

[sources:timeslive&timeslive]