Cape Town - Payouts to "failed" departing chief executives of South Africa's parastatals have cost the South African public at least R262.1m over the last decade, a Democratic Alliance MP said on Tuesday.
Pieter van Dalen said the cost of the payouts would jump to R347m if former Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga was successful in a lawsuit against the parastatal.
"If paid out, Jacob Maroga's R85m claim would be just the latest in a series of staggering salary payouts to unsuccessful executives," Van Dalen said.
"Since 2001, at least R262.1m has been awarded to parastatal bosses for their part in running their respective parastatals to the ground."
R14m+ for former SAA bosses
These payouts include an R8m settlement received by former SA Airways (SAA) chief executive Khaya Ngqula, after he was fired for his role in a R1bn tender-rigging saga in 2009.
Before Ngqula, SAA paid then CEO Andre Viljoen R3.6m on top of a salary of R2.2m and a performance bonus of almost R1m.
During Viljoen's last two years at the helm of SAA, the company made losses of R15bn.
In 2001, former SAA CEO Coleman Andrews received a golden handshake of R232m, even though the airline posted a net loss of more than R700m for that year.
In 2009 the SABC paid R11m to its former group CEO Dali Mpofu. Mpofu took the SABC to court after he was suspended for suspending then head of news and current affairs Snuki Zikalala.
Former Denel chief executive Victor Moche, who was fired from his position by then public enterprises minister Alec Erwin, walked away from the parastatal with a golden handshake of about R3m in 2005.
Questions for Hogan
Land Bank CEO Alan Mukoki received R4.5m after he quit in 2007 amid R2bn worth of fraud.
"This list, it should be noted, is limited only to payouts received by departing CEOs of parastatals.
"The culture of golden handshakes, however, extends far beyond that under the ANC.
"Recent examples of Lawrence Mushwana (R7m) and Vusi Pikoli (R7.5m) illustrate precisely that point."
Van Dalen said the party would pose questions to the Minister of Public Enterprises Barbara Hogan to establish the true cost of severance packages over the last few years.
"We cannot continue to pay for incompetence like this. This is money that could be spent on ensuring that parastatals deliver quality services to the public that they are required to."
