(Debate in Parliament: Adjustments Appropriation Bill)
Corruption, incompetence and misguided priorities have become synonymous with the ANC – these are the characteristics of failure in governance and a sheer inability to manage the country's finances.
The latest audit outcomes of state institutions indicate that only one out of all the public enterprises in the country received a clean audit.
What happened at the rest? How much money was misappropriated and stolen while the country keeps deteriorating and millions of people are destitute?
Teachers earn, on average, about R20 000 per month. In stark contrast to this, Eskom's former chief executive, Brian Molefe, earned a whopping R1,1 million per month. This demonstrates that misguided priorities have resulted in load shedding and why the country's educational system is so poor.
On average, a warrant-officer in the police force earns about R15 000 per month, while a special advisor to a minister earns between R100- and R185 000 per month.
While crime is out of control, the government squanders R175 000 on hotel accommodation for one of its provincial police commissioners.
While there are no funds available for essential resources and a moratorium has been placed on new appointments, a staggering R1,8 billion is budgeted for ministers' bodyguards.
These are clear examples of misguided priorities while the people are unemployed and going hungry, and the economy is collapsing.
Since 2018, one out of every seven people in the formal sector has lost their job. And yet the ANC maintains that it is governing well, that the budget is good for the economy, and that the government truly cares about its people.
The ANC boasts that it is turning South Africa around and eradicating corruption. It is, however, not an achievement to fix something that you are responsible for breaking in the first place.
While millions of South Africans are desperately waiting to receive their emergency aid grant, 170 000 public officials have devised a way to unlawfully claim social grants for themselves.
These examples undoubtedly paint a sombre picture of a failed state; a government without proper leadership where corruption and incompetence are at the order of the day.
A picture of a government without a conscience that is indifferent to the plight of its people.
