A punch-drunk nation
23/06/2008 08:23  - (SA)  

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Jon Qwelane

I am sitting in front of my computer at home, staring disbelievingly at our household water-and-electricity bill sent by the Ekurhuleni Metro Council for the period May-June this year, and I am very angry.

The "amount payable" reflects as R3 838.47 and the date for the payment to be received is July 9. Last month we paid R2 232 for water and electricity consumption over a 30-day period. My calculations tell me that we have supposedly consumed water and power to the astronomical cost of R6 070 in just over two months.

This is diabolical; it is sheer daylight robbery! This is mugging by the state!

My queries to the Ekurhuleni Council have not resulted in much: I have been bluntly, if not curtly, told that the billing is correct and I must ensure that in my home we do not use electricity excessively. We must cut down on the use of heaters, the geyser and all that usual rubbish "advice".

The point is that I am not running a disco, nor do I run any business at home. We are a family of four in the house, and my son and daughter are not home the whole day.

We do add our bit to the national effort to conserve energy - switching off all appliances not in use, switching off all the lights in the rooms not occupied, switching off the geyser, and we have invested in a gas heater.

Yet the murderous electricity bill continues.

Paying through the neck

We are now having to pay through the neck for the gross incompetence of this hopelessly out-of-sorts government. You should not forget that Thabo Mbeki himself has already admitted publicly that some ten years ago the government was warned the country was heading towards an electricity collapse, and the authorities ignored the warning.

We are becoming too punch-drunk as a nation; we receive so many deadly blows with such telling effect, yet we do absolutely nothing to counter the murderous economic punches!

There was a time, not so long ago, when I could fill the tank of my car with R600 worth of petrol and be able to travel to Mafikeng to visit my siblings, and then drive back three-quarters of the way before filling up again.

Nowadays R600 takes me nowhere near Mafikeng, only around Johannesburg for a day or two at the most, and then I must find some more money to top up the tank.

Okay, some cynic will say I must consider travelling by bicycle or by taxi. But then that would negate the recent technological advances meant to lighten some of life's burdens.

Otherwise, by the same argument, we might as well forget about the e-mail and the telephone, to go back to the old way of sending messages by smoke signals, running messenger and courier pigeon?

Solution

And what would I suggest as a solution to the mess? The first thing would be to boot out of office this hopelessly incompetent and arrogant government, and to replace them with what might be a better group of people who have the know-how.

The second would be to ensure that the new government would staff the bureaucracy with competent and efficient officials who are well trained to do the job.

Flowing from all those efforts would be the benefits of eradicating cronyism and corruption.

But the first important act would be to forget all about struggle allegiances and credentials, to put South Africans first - we have been amply shown that the men and women with the guns may be good liberators, but they are not necessarily the best governors.

That way, hopefully, I will no more spend miserable mornings gazing at the obscene electricity bills!

Send your comments to Jon.

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