ActionSA files complaints over alleged DA ‘top-up’ payments to senior leaders

Johannesburg – ActionSA has filed formal complaints with the Public Protector and Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests alleging that several Democratic Alliance (DA) public representatives received undisclosed monthly “top‑up” payments from the party on top of their official government salaries.

The complaints were lodged after a leaked internal DA report suggested the party spends more than R305 000 a month on such supplemental payments.

The confidential document, compiled by former federal finance chair Dion George, lists the following alleged monthly top‑ups:

Tshwane councillor Cilliers Brink: R62 386
DA MP Mathew Cuthbert: R50 000
Deputy Minister of Finance Ashor Sarupen: R50 000
National Assembly House Chair Werner Horn: R50 000
uMngeni Mayor Christopher Pappas: R44 609
Agriculture Minister and DA leader John Steenhuisen: R39 560
DA Chief Whip George Michalakis: R9 053

🚨BREAKING NEWS 🚨

EXPOSING DA RACISM

DA has a system where white leaders are quietly rewarded with extra payments while others are excluded. This is discrimination. The DA’s “non-racialism” is nothing more than a facade hiding a party that still prioritises and protects white… pic.twitter.com/Zs8MOhoPLP

— Oarabile Tshwagong (@ActionSA_2026) March 22, 2026

ActionSA claims the payments may breach Section 96 of the Constitution, which prohibits members of the executive from undertaking any other paid work, and that the amounts were not disclosed in required public registers.

According to Times Live, Party MP Lerato Ngobeni said if confirmed, it would mean senior leaders were “effectively being paid twice: once by South African taxpayers and again by their political party.”

Ngobeni also criticised what she described as excessive executive perks and a broader lack of accountability in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

The DA has disputed the validity of the leaked report, but the matter has intensified scrutiny over the party’s internal remuneration practices.

“The report carries the signature of a former member of the party, and its validity is being disputed. A version with verified content will be served before FedEx later this month. The leaked report you have received has never been served before FedEx,”National spokesperson Karabo Khakhau, according to IOL.