Government track record of wasting hard-earned money from taxpayers is nothing new and was well documented in Zondo Commission.
Incomplete structure at Ga-Mothakga Recreation Resort in Pretoria, 7 October 2026. Vandalism of youth camps is a broader problem affecting the city’s resorts, including inadequate security, maintenance backlogs, overloaded septic tanks, blocked drains, flooding, roof leaks and insufficient lighting. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/ The Citizen
We’ve seen and heard it so many times before that eventually we become numb to the numbers. R26 million wasted on this project, R342 million squandered here and what’s another R103 million on a new venture with nothing to show?
Government’s track record of wasting hard-earned money from taxpayers is nothing new. It was well documented in the Zondo Commission into State Capture, and the leaking taps have shown no sign of being fixed.
At the Madlanga commission, it led Public Service Commission chair Somadoda Fikeni to put a name to a growing governance problem: the “political economy of inefficiency” – where government has money and policies, but repeatedly fails to turn them into functioning public services.
And the taxpayer is hit with a double whammy: their tax money is wasted with nothing to show, or use.
In today’s Big Read, we look at a public abattoir in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga. It was to “benefit the public, millions was committed, the facility built and then left to rot. Now, 20 years later, it stands unused”.
We also look at the Ga-Mothakga Recreation Resort in Atteridgeville township, west of Pretoria, as we report “another example of public recreational infrastructure barely delivering its intended benefits”.
“The City of Tshwane’s 2024-25 oversight report records theft and vandalism of youth camps at Ga-Mothakga. A Tshwane report has also previously recorded Ga-Mothakga as one of the city’s 12 resorts. The city’s resort network recorded almost 97 726 visits during the 2022-23 financial year and generated about R14.75 million in revenue,” our Big Read states.
However, it has been largely neglected, with the chalets stripped bare and their roofing stolen.
These are just two examples of failed projects and wasteful expenditure. When will it all end?
