Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Tuesday his department was introducing austerity measures to slash official travel, accommodation and administration costs.

Sexwale and his deputy Zoe Kota-Fredericks this week started flying economy class to Cape Town to attend Parliamentary sittings and all staff had been ordered to do the same, his spokesperson Chris Vick said.

Vick said Sexwale told his staff: "We need to lead by example. We have to tighten up on expenditure, particularly on some of the big-ticket items such as travel."

The department had placed a moratorium on promotional items and instructed officials to share transport wherever possible.

It had given orders to cut down on printing and photocopying costs.

Sexwale and Kota-Fredericks have bucked the ministerial trend for acquiring luxury official vehicles at taxpayers' expense.

The Minister was using his own car and his deputy one from the department's fleet, Vick said.

He said the Human Settlements Department was doing a study of how much it could realistically save and would report to the National Treasury once it was completed.

Sexwale, who made a personal fortune in business before joining President Jacob Zuma's cabinet, is possibly preempting moves by government to cut ministerial perks.

Prompted by a public outcry over Ministers buying top-of-the-range German cars, the government appointed a task team to see how officials could cut unnecessary spending.

Spokesperson Themba Maseko said recently it had yet to hand the proposals to Cabinet, but promised on Tuesday to respond later in the week to a call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for Ministers to trade in expensive cars for more modest models.

Cosatu said spending more than R1-million on a BMW, as Higher Education Minister and SACP heavyweight Blade Nzimande had done, was a slap in the face to the poor.