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Pietermaritzburg - KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Ina Cronje on Friday decried the levels of debt among the province's public servants, and pleaded with them to live within their means.
“Don't live beyond your means. You think it is wonderful to have a bigger house or faster car, but the misery you get to after plunging yourself into debt is just not worth it,” Cronje warned at the launch of the KZN government employees training programme, an educational initiative that aims to ensure civil servants are debt-free.
The province has over 180 000 staff, with the education and health departments having the bulk of these.
The initiative, which involves the government, banking sector and NGOs, came from the realisation that a debt-stressed workforce would not provide an adequate service to the public.
Cronje cited statistics revealing that one in every seven public servants in KwaZulu-Natal was paying their debt through a garnishee order, that a number of public servants were paying child support through court orders and that a high number of employees were moonlighting to supplement their income.
The province also had the highest number of social grant recipients.
“These are not the numbers that we should be proud of. We do no want to have the highest number of people relying on grants because it is not sustainable.”
The province's director general Nhlanhla Ngidi said the government would help its employees, as this would ensure they were not tempted to commit fraud.
“Don't live beyond your means. You think it is wonderful to have a bigger house or faster car, but the misery you get to after plunging yourself into debt is just not worth it,” Cronje warned at the launch of the KZN government employees training programme, an educational initiative that aims to ensure civil servants are debt-free.
The province has over 180 000 staff, with the education and health departments having the bulk of these.
The initiative, which involves the government, banking sector and NGOs, came from the realisation that a debt-stressed workforce would not provide an adequate service to the public.
Cronje cited statistics revealing that one in every seven public servants in KwaZulu-Natal was paying their debt through a garnishee order, that a number of public servants were paying child support through court orders and that a high number of employees were moonlighting to supplement their income.
The province also had the highest number of social grant recipients.
“These are not the numbers that we should be proud of. We do no want to have the highest number of people relying on grants because it is not sustainable.”
The province's director general Nhlanhla Ngidi said the government would help its employees, as this would ensure they were not tempted to commit fraud.
