The Presidency was allocated R499.7-million in this year’s budget‚ which is up from R448.3-million. The salaries of Zuma and his deputy – Cyril Ramaphosa – totalled R6-million.
The Rand Mail reports the R6-million was not included in the amount of Almost R500-million for staff as this was budgeted for separately.
The largest expenditure for the department is R329-million on salaries for its 663 staffers, which works out at at an average of R496,229 per staff member.
Goods and services — which includes audit costs‚ communication‚ computer services and consultants‚ and business advisory services — total R162.8-million of the budget‚ while R53.3-million was budgeted for travel and subsistence in the department.
The support services budget for Zuma and Ramaphosa includes costs associated with state visits‚ meeting obligations to the United Nations‚ South Africa’s conflict resolution efforts in Lesotho‚ South Sudan and Sri Lanka‚ as well as Ramaphosa’s role as patron of the Moral Regeneration Movement.
The newspaper says these budgets used to include specific line items for household expenditure and the spousal support unit‚ but these specifics have not been included in budget documents since around 2009.
The executive support programme‚ which provides “strategic support to enable the cabinet to foster accountability and policy coherence”‚ received a budget of R46.3-million. Of this‚ R19.4-million was budgeted for computer services‚ R1.4-million for catering for departmental activities‚ and R3.6 million for travel and subsistence.
