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Public funds and sticky fingers

IT SEEMS calls for South Africa’s public servants to reduce their irresponsible spending of public funds have fallen on deaf ears.

This week, the Polokwane council confirmed it will acquire an Audi Quattro 7 3.0 TDI valued at R1.1m for its executive mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng.

This, it was reported, was in spite of some rural villages enduring conditions of abject poverty in the municipality with no running water and electricity.
 
This week, the ANC used its majority in the council sitting to support the acquisition of the luxury vehicle. ANC councillors sternly shot down all opposition to this by other parties.

Rasepuetja Molepo, chairperson of the finance committee, said the mayor could not ride around in a less expensive car.
 
“Must we go and buy a car of R100 000 for the mayor? It can’t be,” he was quoted as saying this week. He stubbornly ignored the uproar that had followed Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande and other ministers' acquisition of cars valued at millions of rands a couple of years back.

Nothing more than blatant theft

To me, this amounts to blatant theft of public funds. Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, and his party were right to say that President Jacob Zuma and the ANC have no respect for the South African public.

The Polokwane council’s behaviour also clearly shows that the ANC does not care what people say about corruption. So much has been said about the party’s corrupt tendencies, but its officials continue their illicit ways.

They are clearly not aware that this type of behaviour can further damage if not paralyse the economy of South Africa while also severely weakening the confidence of investors. In short, graft can destroy a country’s economy far more than its worst enemies could hope to do.
 
Indeed, it is the behaviour such as that of people in the Polokwane council that is South Africa's most fiendish enemy. No emerging state - like South Africa - can imagine making sustainable progress and taking its place among valued economic systems of the globe unless it gets real in stamping out corruption.
 
The scale of corruption reached in South Africa is becoming increasingly apparent to the world. An inconceivable dimension of graft is becoming visible and is at its deepest under President Jacob Zuma’s watch.

Ignore corruption, suffer dire consequences

The consequences of government’s practice of looking the other way instead of punishing corrupt officials and seizing their wealth and properties gained with public money will be dire.

It could lead to a disastrous situation where officials betray the good faith shown to them by constituencies who voted the government into power.

It will be a good model to support existing corruption-busting bodies, including the judiciary, so that they can become increasingly efficient through the use of reliable investigators and prosecutors who are well informed without being witch-hunters.

The public protector's office should continue to review and investigate grievances, looking into the wealth of all public officials and their families.

Other politicians - including local government chairpersons, government officials and business associates of politicians - should also be probed.

*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.

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