Last month, the South African Revenue Services
(SARS) demanded that I pay an extra R17 000 in taxes. I resent it deeply given
our politicians’ ravenous feeding at the trough and the endless deluge of
corruption. Luxurious presidential and ministerial houses, lavish lifestyles,
expensive cars, exorbitant salaries and undeserving perks that go with public
life have become customary. Julius Malema epitomises this lifestyle. Never
having done an honest day’s work in his life, he owns a farm, is building a
mansion for over R6 million in Sandton, and he has a whopping bank balance. Bankrolled
by some of the ANC’s elite, his other sources of wealth must surely come from
our taxes via the procurement process. I have written to the Treasury asking them to give me a valid reason why I should pay in this amount given that a sizeable portion of the national budget goes into the private pockets of connected individuals. I need an explanation from the Minister of Finance why I need to comply with this demand.
SA is a developing nation and despite an
increase in tax collection (R599bn in 2009/10, an R8.4bn increase on the
previous year), government has been everything but prudent with the management
of the country’s financial assets. Total tax revenue is made up of personal
income tax (R205,2 billion), value-added tax (VAT) (R147,9 billion) and company
income tax (R134,9 billion). In other words, individuals are heavily taxed vis a vis companies and vis a vis the appalling services we get
in return. In the meantime, government is living it up and we are simply
failing to keep government consumption at affordable levels. The widespread
abuse of power, greed, corruption, misappropriation and mismanagement of tax
revenues fly in the face of our constitutional obligations which demand
accountability, transparency and public scrutiny.
The fights around public office are so vicious
because ANC members know that in running the country they have ownership and
control of the economy for their own gain. It is this entitlement that will run
SA into the ground. Billions wasted on the arms deal, millions on the travel
scandal, hundreds of millions on Bheki Cele’s Police Headquarters, not to speak
of the investigation of 20 SABC employees accused of R2.7bn in tender and
procurement rigging, leave us reeling just to comprehend it all. Then there is
the building of 33 police stations to the value of R330 million without going
through due process and the allegations that police officers were involved in
their construction. The Department of Public Works itself is a nest of vipers
and many of their officials have their hands in the cookie jar.
Chapter 13 of the Constitution spells out very
clearly the role of the Treasury and its obligation to “ensure both
transparency and expenditure control.” The Treasury may also “stop the transfer
of funds to an organ of state if that organ of state commits a serious or
persistent material breach of those measures.” Government is in breach of its
own Constitution for supporting organs of state that have literally stolen and misappropriated
state funds. Instead of an equitable, efficient, and well accounted for tax
system meant to achieve economic growth and the development of the poor, the
Treasury remains a cash cow for the deployed cadres who will milk it until it
is dry.
“Throw Them All Out” is a book my daughter
sent me for Christmas. It details how American “politicians and their friends
get rich off insider stock tips, land deals, and cronyism that would send the
rest of us to prison.” Similarly, our deployed cadres belong in jail. Few would
be left to govern!
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