I want to draw your attention to four very different stories that we saw over the course of one week.
While they are very different from one another, they converge on one oversight that is costing us dearly as a country.
Firstly, the biggest story of last week was that of (the now former) Parliamentary Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who argued desperately against being jailed on corruption charges, citing the detrimental effect prison conditions will have on her health.
Needless to say, prison is not meant to be a walk in the park, and what happened to all of us being equal under the law.
I fear a dangerous precedent was set by the likes of Jacob Zuma and Schabir Shaik, who used the same arguments to escape fair punishment for serious crimes.
It looks like all crooked politicians now plan to use this legal manoeuvre to wriggle out of jail time. But it’s the corruption charge that I want to focus on.
While former Minister of Defence, Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly solicited a bribe to the tune of R4.5-Million, half of which was reportedly handed to her in cash.
There are dozens of other stories of her allegedly abusing her position and having misspent millions of taxpayers’ money on flights, car hire and luxury hotel stays and purchases.
One of the other stories is of how she and her colleagues will be retaining some of their tax-funded privileges for some time, after the national elections next month, even if they are not voted back into office.
What this means, for example, is that you and I will not only foot the bill for new MPs flying around the country, but also for their predecessors’ flights for the next five years.
What a wonderful life some of us live.
But all of this pales in comparison to the R16.5-million of bursary funding that 32-year-old Fidelis Moema is accused of having embezzled from KPMG.
While it is private funding, it still illustrates the entitlement some civil servants and even highly educated people feel they deserve when it comes to living well.
And while there’s nothing wrong with that thinking in principle, when it comes at the expense of others, we have a major problem of morals and values.
The brazen theft of money meant to move the entire country forward as a whole, just so that a few people can drive expensive cars and stay in over-priced hotels, is a sickening trend that was started by our politicians and that others are now emulating.
Here’s one more story.
The national kitty is looking healthier than it ever has in our democratic history.
Thanks to innovative collection strategies, SARS says it has collected more taxes than in any previous year.
So while we are borrowing from our future, by short-changing our present-day education needs, the question is … where is all the money going?
Most of the stories I highlight above relate to money intended for poor scholars and students desperate to work hard to uplift themselves, their families and their communities.
Which brings me to the story that ties it all together.
Parents at some government schools are justifiably worried sick, as their kids have been placed on what is effectively short-time – attending school every other day.
The reason is there’s not enough money to pay teachers.
National budget cuts have seen the contracts of dozens of teachers being cancelled.
Keep in mind that many of these schools were already dealing with large classrooms, necessitated by ongoing staff-shortages.
How can all these very different stories exist at the same time, in the same country?
The short answer is greed.
The longer answer is a morally-corrupt leadership that has strayed from the vision of 1994, is now out of touch with the reality of average citizens, and that enables each other’s greed.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za