Tidemarks often wonders just who in government is watching the National Treasury’s monthly data on the state’s income and expenditure. The big scare number from the latest release is the widely touted R451bn deficit for the past 12 months. This shortfall is a record-breaking 36% greater than the tax income for the same period. But it has not been caused just by the collapse in revenue resulting from by the catastrophic consequences of the now indefensible lockdown regulations which shut down huge swathes of industry. The other side of the equation – state spending – is almost as concerning a cause of the exploding deficit. Spending hasn’t slowed down or even stabilised through the virus crisis. It has accelerated and has grown by 10.5% in the past 12 months. No civil servant has been forced to experience the dreadful salary cuts that have hit the private sector workers. Indeed, this week the Presidency almost boasted of this when admitting to the costs of public sector salaries – particularly for those who are not expected to be at work. And then there is the spending on atrociously overpriced and corruptly awarded contracts to supply the state with goods and services. So, if there indeed is anyone official watching these appalling figures and joining the dots, they have failed to get the message through the mist of ideological excitement that has enveloped our leaders, who are more concerned about their way to fame in the future textbooks on the failures of communism.
The business rescue plan for resuscitating SAA, the national airline, has been released. Published by the government’s Department of Public Enterprises – a demonstrably incompetent and unenterprising outfit – the plan is seemingly silent on the wisdom of launching a new airline in these financially troubled times. In due course perhaps, the soon to be appointed chief information officer will explain. In the meantime we await the naming of a “transaction adviser” whose task it will be to sift through the allegedly long list of investors eager to help fund this new airline. Amid the waffle about “mixes of local and international investor groups”, “private sector funders”, “private equity investors and partners” there is not a word about filling seats with paying passengers. Whatever the promise that “the government would maintain a certain level of ownership of the new carrier (and) would like to see an efficient and modern aircraft fleet with hybrid density options acquired at competitive rates” might mean, everyone ought still note the queue of creditors waiting for news of the R2,3bn that they lent to the previous SAA.
The downside of living a lifestyle that necessitates having bodyguards on duty 24/7, is that these heavies are very aware that what and who they see could one day be of interest and value to someone. At one of the never ending and very expensive commissions of enquiry that is in progress, someone thought to chat with the gate guards from the one time Gupta mansion in Saxonwold, Johannesburg. And the place, it seems, was a veritable laundry where great numbers of public figures came by to drop off their unused oaths of office, tattered integrity and soiled reputations in exchange for sacks of freshly laundered bank notes. No one is much surprised or even embarrassed at these confirmations of what has long been suspected. But would it not be encouraging for the rest of us, if a handful of these thieves – including some from the Gupta side – were roused from their beds early one morning and asked some hard questions. Of course, it would be so much better if their answers resulted in them being given a long stay on that small and inhospitable island in Table Bay, where they could commune with the sprit of their claimed hero and role model.
Most of us are pretty hazy about where Potchefstroom is and what it’s for but it is the birthplace of Brad Binder who last weekend became the first South African ever to win a MotoGP championship race event. This earned him a call from President Cyril and the undying respect of those who understand the laws of physics, because this is a sport that flagrantly breaches most of them.
James Greener
Friday 14th August 2020
