SA's financial burden

by Ray

Over the past few months the South African public has been informed of several additional financial and psychological burdens. We have the SABC, SAA, Water and sewage looming crisis, Eskom, Toll roads, NHI, to name a few.

Please don't get me wrong. I love this country and think we have so much potential. My only two issues are that the people in power making decisions are not held responsible or accountable, and the general public is too apathetic.

Let’s use the road death toll as an example as it can be applied to all the other failing areas. We appoint people into positions that generally fall into one or more of the following categories - no ability for the position, no work ethic, not sufficient management, not sufficient training, nepotism, political affiliations, skin colour, no experience or no moral fibre. The above may be a generalisation but they destroy the work of the few individuals that really try and make a difference in the average South African’s life. To those dedicated individuals we owe much because they carry the rest.

Let’s apply the above to the example: where is visible policing on the roads every day, the ministers getting the TV crews there every so often to boost their image. Fines are seen as revenue and that appears to be the focus.

Laws are not enforced - taxis, emergency lane driving, not using indicators, u-turns on highways, talking on cellphones and so on.

The traffic officers standards are lower than a few years ago (thank goodness for Outsurance pointsmen). They openly ask for bribes, the anti-corruption call centre number just rings, how many officers get punished, and no a slap on the wrist doesn't count. The standards of driving schools are shocking, learners can buy licences for cash or sex, often the driving school is the broker. To get fines squashed pay the officer a portion of the fine.

The booking call centres don't work. You can get the learners tests from the driving schools. Financial mismanagement is a given for government departments, but hey let’s throw some more money at them next year. Heads of department that aren't qualified for positions, managers that can focus on urgent things (and no functions and parties don't count), why don't we increase standards instead of lowering them.

This decay hasn't just happened and it’s all over our beloved country, if we want the country to move forward, create wealth and prosperity for all then let’s put the right people in the right jobs, regardless of family relations, skin colour or political affiliations. At what point does the political rhetoric and self enrichment stop, so that the average citizen can be put first.

While there appears to be no political will to rectify the situation (lip service does not count), a fish always rots from the head. When you enter public office you make the choice to serve South Africans, there is never any justification to steal, accept bribes etc. Ordinary South African citizens should start focusing on what’s important for our well being and that of future generations, actively take part to make South Africa great. You owe it to your children and other fellow South Africans. At what point does the financial and psychological burden become too great for the average South African and they stop seeing advantages in our country and look elsewhere?