Aristide costing South Africa taxpayer R5m a year

by Kenneth Mubu MP – 28 June 2009 – DA MP says former Haitian leader is receiving perks usually granted to cabinet ministers  Aristide is costing South Africa at least R5-million a year.

A reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question (question included below) shows that ousted former Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is continuing to receive special treatment from the state with state-funded accommodation, office staff, transport and security equivalent to that provided to a Cabinet minister. A conservative estimate puts Aristide’s total annual cost to the South African taxpayer at upwards of R5-million.
While the Department of International Relations and Cooperation has provided an inadequate answer on the costs associated with supporting Aristide, and the DA will be asking further follow-up questions to obtain more specific information, it is possible to draw up a rough estimate of his costs:

Accommodation: Ministerial houses are usually valued in the range of R3m-R4m.

Car allowance: Aristide’s car allowance would be around R1.2m.  

Staff: The reply does not say how many staff are employed to manage Aristide’s affairs. But if he employs three people, this could easily be costing the state R500 000 a year.

Security: This is determined by the VIP unit according to their estimates of need. Earlier this year it was revealed that Jacob Zuma’s security was costing the state R1m a month. If Aristide’s security costs are even a twentieth of this, it is costing the state R50 000 a month (R600 000 a year).

The ministerial guidelines state specifically that a minister may not hold another job and receive a salary from the state. Aristide is not receiving a salary, but he is receiving generous benefits. Yet he continues to hold a research fellow in the College of Human Sciences at Unisa.

Aristide has been living in South Africa since May 2004. At the time that he fled to South Africa, then Presidential spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said “This is a temporary arrangement until the Haitian situation stabilizes and Aristide can return”. Five years later, he appears to have settled down here permanently.

South Africa is having to cope with a flood of refugees fleeing persecution and corrupt government. If we are to spend money on refugees, we should rather spend it on processing the applications of those who are really in need, not on maintaining at enormous expense a powerful man with a tainted reputation.

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION:
Whether former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains resident in South Africa; if so, (a) Where is he currently living and (b) (i) what budget was allocated for the maintenance of his household in each of the financial years that he has been resident in South Africa and (ii) how is this budget broken down for (aa) security, (bb) household running costs, (cc) vehicles, (dd) staff and other specified costs?

REPLY:
a) The Former President is currently residing in Gauteng, South Africa
b) (i) The South African Government generally owns the accommodation and assets provided for utilisation with regard to the residence in Gauteng of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the costs related thereto, like those of Cabinet Ministers, are integrated into the operations of Government. The South African Government budgets for these services to former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide are equivalent to those provided to a South African Cabinet Minister.
(ii) (aa) – (dd) The monthly costs related to his accommodation, transport, office staff and security are similar to the cost associated to a South African Cabinet Minister The DA Office administrator: about R120 000 per year
Whether former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains resident in South Africa; if so, (a) Where is he currently living and (b) (i) what budget was allocated for the maintenance of his household in each of the financial years that he has been resident in South Africa and (ii) how is this budget broken down for (aa) security, (bb) household running costs, (cc) vehicles, (dd) staff and other specified costs?

REPLY:
a) The Former President is currently residing in Gauteng, South Africa
b) (i) The South African Government generally owns the accommodation and assets provided for utilisation with regard to the residence in Gauteng of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the costs related thereto, like those of Cabinet Ministers, are integrated into the operations of Government. The South African Government budgets for these services to former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide are equivalent to those provided to a South African Cabinet Minister.
(ii) (aa) – (dd) The monthly costs related to his accommodation, transport, office staff and security are similar to the cost associated to a South African Cabinet Minister.
Statement issued by Kenneth Mubu MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of international relations and cooperation, June 28 2009

Haitian Tsunami

by Michael Schillingworth/Nordic News – According to U.S. and United Nations confidential sources, after the Carnival the situation in Haiti may become troubling. This worrisome scenario preoccupies the International Community already worried about the lack of leadership from the current President and Prime Minister who have been completely ineffective in dealing with the country’s economic situation.

What worries Minustah most is the fact that they are getting information that the people will take to the streets to demand a change in policy and a change of government. Corruption has been rampant, and the officials in Haiti have done nothing to curtail the rise in prices of commodities despite the fact that these products have drastically dropped in price on the International market.

Custom officials refuse to make business flow in a smooth way, because this is the way they make money, by complicating the importation process. Customs is being run like a private business belonging to higher ups who manipulate prices to extort money under the table. The current director has been there with his cohorts for the past 24 years and as can clearly be seen, he and his group have become very wealthy milking the custom’s cow.

A few bankers control the flow of money being laundered through this Caribbean nation’s banking system to the point where World Financial Institutions have been asking whether Haiti has become a Chinese Laundromat.

After the departure of the Haitian military in 1994, Aristide’s cronies opened the doors of the country to the Colombian drug cartels. Several incarcerated drug bosses who used to do business with the ex-Haitian leader who was returned to power in Haiti by U.S. troops had claimed that chaos always benefited Aristide and his drug trade. These canaries who have sung their songs to the DEA have testified against the Lavalas regime’s leader, who is currently sitting in South Africa enjoying the benefits of drug money which he is presently using to again create havoc in Haiti.

These are the same monies which they fear will be used to generate chaos in order to confuse the masses into believing that if Jean-Bertrand Aristide is returned to the country things will be better.

Some sources even believe that President René Préval is in cahoots with his former mentor Aristide in order to embroil the upcoming legislative elections to prevent them from taking place in April of this year.

The Duvalier party is also ready to have their leader Jean-Claude Duvalier who is in exile in Paris return as a candidate for the next presidential elections. All these facts put together makes of Haiti a nation ready for a political Tsunami.