Literacy not required but Government to get 5% more

Dear South African Voters,

        Where in the world can you get a part-time job next to the beach that pays nearly R30 000 a month or R350 000 a year for only 20 hours work a week?
         Now they are expected to get a 5% increase.  

          Where can you get such a plumb job without being able to read or write?         
          In South Africa where else? And in picturesque Cape Town what’s more.

          Would you lend your car to somebody without a driving licence? Well that’s exactly what you voters are doing to our country. No wonder it’s in the ditch more often than not and the stage is fast approaching when there won’t be enough money to haul it out even for its scrap value.

          Sadly these words are wasted on a lot of you.

        Sadder still this is the deplorable standard we set for those who govern us.

          No wonder the African National Congress Government is not bothered about the edikasion sistam being in shimbles because with these kind of salaries who worries about schooling.

          We are a third, going on a fourth or fifth-world country with a population of 50-million.

          There are 400 members of Parliament. MPs get R800 000 a year while President Jacob Zuma and his bloated Cabinet get double that or more while at least a third of the adult population have no salary at all. Zuma’s standard of education is a State secret and who knows how many MPs would get a job anywhere else.

           Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the Mother of the nation proves the point. Flights to the moon occur more often than her appearances in the House.

          India, which has a population of more than a billion with around 200-million people in the A Income Group, has just over 800 MPs. Most of our A Income Group earners are in Government somewhere filling their boots.

          As the local government elections are coming up in South Africa it’s appropriate to talk about Councils. Take Cape Town, the only City controlled by the Democratic Alliance, as an example.

          It has 210 of these overpaid Councillors – more than half the number of the MPs who run the entire country - getting those salaries I mentioned to begin with. And the population is a mere 3-million.

          Tammy Petersen’s story in the Peoples Post opened my eyes to the way the spending splurge doesn’t end with ordinary Councillors. There’s the Mayor on over a million a year; his deputy taking home R789 355 and Mayoral Committee members and  sub-council chairmen each being paid R741 143. And there are 33 of these jackpot winners.

          And even some of these high rollers who are full-time employees can get permission to supplement their pittance by taking another job. That tells you just how diligently you have to work in a bureaucracy.

          A similar scenario is repeated at councils that are there to be plundered up and down the country. ANC supporters are fighting each other to be nominated for one of these, money for jam jobs where nobody has to account for anything.
           The country's Auditor-General's report for 2010/2011 gave a clean audit to a mere 13 of the 283 councils.. That's how bad it has got.

           It’s as though there’s been a gold strike and everybody is rushing to stake their claim. You don’t have to be educated to do that either.

        Literacy is a touchy subject. No wonder because all of our rulers should be deeply ashamed of the present situation.

          When I asked Alderman Dirk Smit (Salary R789 355) Cape Town’s Speaker (he’s there, I think, to make sure everybody behaves themselves) if you had to be able to read and write to be a Councillor his first response was "See Constitution." I asked his PA: "Surely the Speaker can give me the answer off the cuff." He came back through her saying it’s not a "Yes"or "No" answer.

          This was followed by a letter in which he referred to Section 158 and 47 of the country's Constitution to be read with Section 21 of the Local Government Structures Act no 117 of 1998 which sets out the qualifications required to be a Councillor.

          "You will note," he went on,"that there are no restrictions or prohibitions relating to literacy for Councillors and the legislation referred to is silent on this matter."         

          That’s the longest "No" I’ve ever heard. Heaven help us if every Councillor answers a simple question in this long winded fashion. Is that why they get paid such huge salaries?                             

          Not surprisingly the money’s running out. The Times reported that 20 ANC run municipalities have gone bankrupt; 30 ratepayer groups have refused to pay something like R10-million in rates and taxes because their basic services are collapsing.

       Realistically all that South Africa needs is a Parliament of 50 and Cape Town and all the other cities should have no more than 30 Councillors with the smaller places having proportionally less.

          Whatever party our rulers belong to you won’t hear even a whisper among any of them suggesting that we have far more MPs and Councillors than we can afford at prices that are ludicrous.

          WAKE UP! Can’t you see your taxpayer’s money is going down the drain faster than the sewage at a lot of municipalities? And the stink can be smelt internationally.

          Tearfully yours,

          Jon, Member of the Packing for Perth Party.

Note: This was first posted  on 31/5/2011 but I have updated it slightly as the 5% salary increase has been proposed.

President Zuma uses Dearjon idea in State of the Nation address

Dear President Zuma,

          You are a lot more perceptive than I gave you credit for. What’s more you are extremely well read and you are always open to other people’s excellent ideas.

       I was flattered of course, but the only thing that rather peeved me was that having taken one off my blog the least you could do was to give me the credit for having thought of it first. That’s the decent thing to do.

          So when the subject comes up again perhaps you can make amends by telling the country that all the credit must go to the Dearjon Letter.

          What I’m referring to is the following extract from my letter to you headed Where’s our Patriotism which I published on 13 January, just the other day as it were.

          It went like this: How about this for an idea? Can’t you convince your comrades to try aiming for 100 years of patriotism?

       Why not start by hoisting the South African flag on every Government building and at every school. I don’t mean for a couple of weeks until they get nicked. I mean as a permanent reminder of what patriotism is all about.

          Then almost a month later on 10 February I was listening to your fascinating State of the Nation address at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town and what did I hear?

          It was like an echo of what I had suggested to you in my first letter.

          As you know you told that impressive gathering that the experience of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup taught us the need to appreciate all that is good about our country.

          The South African flag became the most important item for every household. Government will build on this by ensuring the placing of flags in schools and public institutions to promote our national symbols and identity.

          One of your advisers might try and persuade you to pretend that this was your idea. But if you go along with that nobody will believe you. They will reason that if you had thought of it you would have mentioned it last year already because the World Cup took place in South Africa nearly a year ago.

          And it’s too much of a coincident that you should include this concept in your first major speech after receiving my Dearjon letter of last month.

          Anyway Mr President I’m glad to be of service and to be able to contribute to nation building.

          Just keep reading the Dearjon letter because it’s always jam packed with good ideas for Presidents.

          Your learned adviser,

          Jon