Budget speech or cartoon?

Jonathan Shapiro – aka Zapiro – must be one of our country’s greatest assets. Watching the Budget Speech, I could not help but think of one of his recent cartoons…

I’m not bashing government in saying that the speech reminded me of a cartoon. Definitely not. I have deep sympathy for our poor Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana. I really wouldn’t want his job.

But, watching the speech, I was reminded of one of Zapiro’s especially brilliant recent cartoons. He produced it just after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster with immediate effect to deal with the country’s electricity crisis during his State of the Nation address. The cartoon shows a guy in a pub, asking questions: “Have I got this right? The guys that spent 30 years bringing the power grid to a state of disaster have declared a state of disaster to fixthe state of disaster?”

As always, Zapiro was on the button – and I’m sure that an equally apt cartoon on the Budget Speech will shortly be doing the rounds. But why was I reminded of the cartoon while watching Godongwana speak? Well because – once again – government is going to end up fixing problems it has created. And it will fix those problems with our money.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) appears to share my sentiments. It notes that bailing out Eskom was unavoidable, but warns that the budget is loaded with additional costs emanating from years of state capture and mismanagement. “The most prominent example of this is the R254 billion bailout of Eskom’s debt over three years starting with R78bn in 2023/24. We trust this breathing space for Eskom means more maintenance for power stations and new energy generation but excludes any disastrous contracts such as with Karpowership,” it states.

OUTA is frustrated with another R1bn bailout to SAA, as well as R2.4bn to the dysfunctional SA Post Office. “More taxpayer money is being wasted on failed state entities. The Post Office is poorly managed and should be significantly reduced and restricted to fulfil only social responsibilities, while SAA should be privatised,” it believes.

The additional resources for crime-fighting initiatives (including the extra R1.3bn for the NPA over three years to implement the recommendations of the State Capture Commission and Financial Action Task Force) are welcomed by OUTA. “This is urgently needed to tackle corruption and criminal activities but this is not enough against the backdrop of the dysfunctional Post Office receiving R2.4bn. We do not see enough done to hold miscreants to account. The SAPS is one example of a dysfunctional department. Our concern is that these spending increases, as little as they are, might be in vain,” it notes.

OUTA believes that much more can be done to cut down on waste, mismanagement, and corruption. The organisation studied the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure (UIFW) of national departments and state-owned entities – and discovered a total known UIFW of over R15.89bn.

 “This issue needs urgent attention and for those responsible to be held accountable. We want to see a tightening of procurement oversight and transparency, as this is where so much money disappears. There is no point in handing increased budgets to departments and entities with long track records of mismanagement and corruption,” the organisation emphasises.

“We want to see accountability in sectors with mismanagement, for example, in local government. Municipal managers in municipalities with qualified audits and under intervention should not get salary increases or bonuses.”

OUTA concludes by noting: “Budget 2023 is another budget aimed at fixing the evils of poor governance. We urgently need improved governance.”

I couldn’t agree more. Instead of spending a fortune on repairing a disaster, don’t allow the creation of one in the first place. It’s really not rocket science.