Danie du Plessis writes:

It is the municipal budget time of the year again, and the Musikagaliwe Municipality’s budget was compiled and presented to the people of Ermelo for comment.

Comment was obtained, and in the comment, certain dubious budget figures were questioned.

It is unclear whether the council adjusted figures in response to the comments given. The inference can be drawn that the input from the public and the questions asked did not elicit a reaction from the council.

What I don’t understand is the double standards when it comes to fiscal policies and decisions at national, provincial and local levels.

When the budget gets approved, it is done in the name of service delivery and patriotism – for the sake of South Africans.

Yet when the reports from the Auditor-General of South Africa (a Chapter 9 institution of the Constitution responsible for auditing public expenditure) are tabled in the same year as the budget – which had been approved with all the accolades above – there are billions in accumulated irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and zero accountability.

Is the message that a budget must be approved for more of the same corruption, theft and maladministration – or is there a real commitment?

I am asking on behalf of the people in my town (the so-called beneficiaries of all the beautiful and patriotic intentions) who are fighting the battle against unparalleled crime, amidst raw sewage boiling over in their houses and without access to decent health services, clean water, sanitation, electricity and other public services that can be associated with human dignity.

I am asking on behalf of the same people who can no longer afford food, and those who don’t have an income and who must somehow extract more from their basic income grant just to survive.

As you all know, the political and legal battle of political parties against the intended hike in VAT, as proposed by the government, was cancelled.

The political parties realised what a burden this would have placed on all citizens.

It is just a shame that some political parties supported the government’s intended VAT hike.

This suggests a troubling disregard for the poorest of the poor, who would have borne the brunt of such a decision.

The question is: how can all this corruption be stopped, so that ordinary people at grassroots level and taxpayers can receive just rewards?

The budget is, after all, funded by taxpayers at the national and provincial levels.