The topic of Politics is always
frowned upon in social circles and people are often reluctant to debate
political issues or developments, given our historical political landscape. I was recently asked not to engage in any
political discussions at a social gathering, for fear of offending
someone. In my opinion anyone who feels
offended by a political discussion, should engage in some serious
self-reflection and re-evaluate their standing and contribution to society. However,
and understandably, with a reflection on our political history, these discussions
or debates can become awkward, tense, and in extreme circumstances, can turn
violent.
I take a strong interest in
politics, not because I have an affiliation to a specific political party or
movement, or for that matter have some kind of ideological belief, but merely because
I feel, as a citizen and taxpayer, we need to keep our politicians (on both
sides of the spectrum) ethical and honourable in their duty to society; however
difficult or impossible that may be. Holding our politicians to account is every
South African citizen’s moral obligation to ensure they deliver on their
promises and to ensure the future of our kids are not compromised. Social Media has become an extremely
effective tool for the purposes of the aforementioned, and is the perfect
platform for any reluctant individual to air their views.
This invariably brings me to the
subject of State Capture. As any South African, whose eyes are open for a
minimum of 10 hours per day, would know, the story of the Guptas make the front
page of most newspapers and the leading story on local News channels, almost
daily. The phrase “state capture” describes
how an immigrant Indian family, the Guptas, have manoeuvred themselves into a position
where they wield control over state-owned companies with their huge procurement
budgets, diverting large sums into their own pockets and, by extension, the
President, his family and his circle of cronies. While I will not go into
extensive detail and bore you to death about this sorry saga, I will attempt to
highlight some of the repercussions which affect every South African, as a
result of this State Capture. This may shed some light on why I suggest that
every South African citizen worth their salt are obliged to hold politicians to
account, in whichever way we can.
Suffice it to say, without the involvement of the average citizen and
civil society, we expose ourselves to the kind of exploitation and blatant
theft witnessed in this State Capture.
State Capture is probably the
most controversial and embarrassing of events that had befell South Africa
since the days of Apartheid. The daylight robbery of SOEs (State Owned Entities),
like Eskom, SAA, SABC, Transnet, PRASA and Denel, brought a whole new level of
corruption and white collar crime in this country’s young history. The
corruption in the Arms Deal is dwarfed by the scale of corruption in the
capture of our state. The figure punted by former Minister of Finance, Pravin
Gordhan, in state corruption was around R100 billion, which roughly represents
10% of Government Expenditure. He emphasised that this money could have doubled
Social Grants for the 17 million South Africans on Social Welfare. It could
have built low cost houses for 5 million families, not to mention the number of
schools or hospitals that could have been built. A R100 billion could have made
a significant impact to the rate of unemployment through job creation.
The most embarrassing thing about
this story is that the perpetrators central to this pilfering are uitlanders
from the Indian sub-continent who saw the potential for grand scale larceny
through our compromised public officials and a pliable Government
administration. They were so enamoured with this potential that they arrogantly
set a goal of stealing no less than R10 billion in liquid assets in a set time
period. Their South African citizenship is under investigation, but this did
not deter them from realising these goals. The corruption and theft extends
globally and implicates various multinational corporations doing shady business
with the Gupta family, and corrupt government officials.
The impact on ordinary South Africans
is far reaching with the most vulnerable in society being affected directly. As
mentioned, the 17 million beneficiaries of Social Welfare could have benefited the
most, but instead face more controversy around non-payment of their social
grants in 2018. Over 30 million people currently live below the poverty line
which is more than half of the total population in this country.
The country is currently in a
recession, brought about by the ratings downgrades of various State Owned
Entities, and subsequently a downgrading in the economy’s investment grade. In the
bigger scheme of things this implies that Foreign Direct Investment in South
Africa slows down, with the possibility of an outflow of current investments; a
case in point, the exit of Ford South Africa.
As a result of the downgrades, and
with little or no future investments, the prospect of job creation becomes a
non-entity, and thus unemployment increases. The official rate as at June 2017
stood at a mind boggling 27.7%, the highest in 13 years. In numbers, that
represents a total of 6.8 million of the employable people in the country. The
unofficial rate which includes the number of people giving up looking for work
sits at around 37%.
Service Delivery throughout South
Africa has deteriorated to the extent that municipalities and local Governments
were under siege by gatvol and frustrated residents. The latest audit report
for 2016 of 263 Municipalities showed that only 49 country-wide, had clean
audits. The total amount of money wasted through corruption was around R16
billion, an increase of a whopping 50% over the previous year.
SOE’s are bankrupt, with Treasury
having to consistently bail them out. Public money urgently needed by other
Social programs like housing, education and health is being diverted to these
SOEs. The latest is SAA where it is alleged the government plans to sell its
share in Telkom to keep SAA afloat.
The NDP (National Development
Plan) vision for 2030 has been abandoned, as a result of the dire circumstances
of our ailing economy. The economic growth forecast for the period 2010 through
2030 is envisioned as best case scenario at 5,4% and worst case scenario at
3,3%. Over the past five years the average growth had already breached the
worst case scenario at a measly 1,6% annually. Based on these figures, the
expected growth for the next 5 years is an average of only 1,8 to 2,0%. That’s
assuming our economy is not downgraded further to junk status, in which case
the forecast may be much lower.
Latest reports indicate that 73%
of middle class income earners are buckling under extreme debt. The middle
class is the spine of the economy and the tax base and a lot of South Africa’s
sustainability as a nation depends on this group. This appears to be a direct result
of increased expenses on the back of lower annual increases.
As can be seen from the above
facts, the people most affected by the shenanigans of State Capture are the
poor and the middle class backbone of the economy. Should the situation deteriorate,
and the middle class collapses, there is a very strong possibility of becoming
another Zimbabwe.
Madiba’s dream of a rainbow
nation with the foundation of a prosperous society was stolen by three chubby,
head bobbling brothers who are alleged to have racist views of black people in
this country. While trumpeting and
promoting the notions of Affirmative Action and BEE, these thieves are secretly
racist bigots. Our hard fought after democracy is in danger of becoming an
almost well-deserved basket case if all patriotic South Africans don’t stand
together and hold our government to account for their actions.
For more information on State
Capture, see #Guptaleaks.
Please feel free to post your comments below.
