Many people in SA are highly indebted owing to a number of reasons, the main one being the parlous state of the economy. We know who to blame for this.
What is of serious concern is the rapidly increasing debt government is incurring. The latter has no funds.
It relieves us of our hard-earned money via a myriad of taxes.
In essence then, owing to government’s fruitless and wasteful expenditure plus blatant fraud, corruption and bloated employment practises, debt is incurred.
Remember, the government has no money. Therefore the payment of interest and repayment of this debt fall on the tax-payers. Does the government care about increasing debt? Not really, it’s not their money.
But wait, it doesn’t end there. We have state-owned enterprises (SAA, Eskom, PRASA and others) constantly demanding billions from government to fund their dodgy practises.
Wait, again, it doesn’t end there. We know the North West province is bankrupt (how many other provinces?) owing to gross mismanagement.
Here’s the kicker, most of the local authorities are also bankrupt. Who pays the latter? The rate-payers (gosh, that’s us!)
Using simple arithmetic, adding all the above means all SA citizens have a huge debt burden and we are essentially bankrupt. We are buckling under the weight via the myriad of taxes – increased PAYE and VAT, fuel levies, rates, electricity prices – partly to pay interest on government debt.
Guess what, government departments are still wantonly spending. No belt tightening for them.
The previous Water Affairs minister Mokonyane bankrupted that department before President Ramaphosa rewarded her with a transfer to another ministry.
Is there a solution? It will be a painful long haul. It begins in mid-2019. Cyril and his team are not the way forward to ultimate prosperity.
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