• Thabile Mange writes:

Last year, public servants did not get an annual increment. The government said it had no money, reneging from a three-year wage agreement. It is singing the same song even this year. Therefore, public servants may spend the second year without getting a raise.

Recently, the remuneration of SOE executives was exposed in the media. The SOE executives earn between R1,9 million and R7,5 million a year. Yet SOEs are under-performing. So, what are they rewarded for?

Interestingly, the Eskom CEO is the third highest paid executive in the SOEs. Yet the country is experiencing serious power cuts. There is also a threat that the country may reach stage 8. What has the Eskom CEO done to deserve such an exorbitant pay?

Not long ago, the Minister of Arts and Culture announced that his department is planning to make a national flag at the cost of R22 million. According to Mthethwa, the flag is going to help the nation cohere. How? I really don’t know.

As expected, the plan was met with total resistance. Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he has advised Minister Mthethwa to stop that “thing” – referring to the flag project. But why was it approved in the first place?

There has been complaints about the minister, who has been dubbed the minister of funerals. There has also been calls for him to be sacked because he is said to be “arrogant” and “incompetent” . But the president is looking the other way. I wonder why.

Back to the main issue. If the government has no money, why are SOEs executives earning high salaries? Also why did the department of arts and culture plan to spend so much money on a vanity project? Yet there is no money.

It is clear that government does not care about public servants, citizens included. It also does not care about their livelihood. This shows that our government is very selfish and corrupt. It deserves to be voted out in the next elections.