Politicians are too weak-kneed to act on state capture, irregular expenses and wasting of public funds, writes Paul Hoffman
Politicians are too weak-kneed to act on state capture, irregular expenses and wasting of public fundsThe well-chosen hungry hippo metaphor used by the finance minister last week is apt in many ways, especially as the hippo is the most dangerous large mammal to humans living in Africa. More human lives are lost in hippo attacks than to any predators in Africa — other than corrupt human predators, that is.
The answer is that anti-corruption efforts have proved ineffective. The Zuma administration saw to that by disbanding the Scorpions and hollowing out the prosecution service. The police service, particularly its upper echelon, is riddled with corruption of its own and its Hawks unit has been unable to stem the tide of grand corruption. The Hawks’ productivity has waned over the years and it has not matched the successes of the ill-fated Scorpions.
At municipal level the auditor-general reports R21.243bn in 2017/2018 and R27.050bn in 2016/2017 as “irregular expenditure” on procurements by municipalities. In state-owned enterprises , irregular expenditure in the 2018/2019 financial year totalled R58.4bn, according to the auditor-general, whose function it is to ensure that procurements by the state at all levels are fair, equitable, competitive, cost-effective and transparent.
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