Can anybody out there tell me how it is possible for only 43% of government’s national departments and 18% of municipalities to achieve clean audits?
Who is managing these departments and municipalities and why in heavens name have they – after 18 years of ANC rule – been unable to fine tune what they are doing, within defined frameworks and according to established practices? Surely it is not possible to continue, endlessly, having an unqualified audit, is it?
Surely there must by now be competent people managing these departments and municipalities – after 18 years – and surely somebody, somewhere must have learnt something.
18 years is enough time for somebody to be born, have a childhood, complete schooling and start working.
Are they trying to tell me that after 18 years nobody has learnt to do the job, nobody has learnt to apply accounting principles and nobody in government knows what they’re doing?
I find this impossible to believe, especially when told repeatedly that the ANC, and thus government, are working hard for the people, are dedicated and are building a future for us all.
How are they doing all these wondrous things if they cannot get clean audits done of their own departments and municipalities? What are they using for money if they don’t actually know where all the money is, or where it’s gone? How do they balance budgets if they’ve no idea how much money they have, how much they’ve spent and what they’ve spent it on?
If I was a shareholder and these departments and municipalities were public companies – and strictly speaking this is the case – then I would have had them liquidated eons ago as the wastage, possible criminality and definite irresponsibility is an obvious threat to my financial wellbeing.
Why is this not the case here and who is to be held responsible?
There is a good possibility that Pravin Gordhan will shortly in his budget speech inform us that taxes are to increase, due to the hard times all of us – including government – are experiencing.
We are already paying over R12 for a litre of petrol, we are amongst the highest taxed people in the world, we pay VAT on everything we buy and we are on notice of having shortly to pay tolls for the roads we use. Oh yeah, we’re also subsidizing troops in CAR and will more than likely pay for the ZIM elections, if we haven’t already.
Why then, if we are all being held hostage by rising prices, are government not doing their bit at the same time by keeping costs down, ensuring there is accountability for all monies spent and, at the very least, ensuring measures are in place to protect the public?
I wonder if the public works department, famous for building the royal fortress Nkandla, is one of the departments which achieved a clean audit. So too, one would have to wonder whether the department of education, responsible for delivering text books and the education of millions of children, is one.
Is it possible that the department of transport – which I assume is where SAA fits into the puzzle – is another? How about Eishkom, where do they fit into the picture?
How about the department of Justice, the department of water affairs and the department of higher education? Would these have received clean audits?
So many questions, and so few answers and it leaves me feeling just a tad nervous. What if Pravin Gordhan increases my taxes to 50%, and the fuel price to R20 a litre? Will I be able to survive?
Maybe we should all be asking ourselves some questions about firstly where our tax monies are really going and secondly about whether we can survive the ANC’s rule for much longer.
I know that I am and I’m not liking the answers that I’m coming up with.
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