The amount spent on VIP protection is criminal

It is a disturbing comment on our society that the ANC government has increased the amount allocated for VIP protection by just over 9% to R3.44 billion … which is higher than the R2.93 billion it set aside for land reform.

The increases in protection charges have gone up inexorably over the past few years.

While it is true that VIP guarding services include those offered to former presidents, deputy presidents and their families, it is also equally true that our VIPs – or those political apparatchiks who considere themselves VIPs because of their close proximity to the taxpayer-funded trough – want to ride around in unnecessary luxury.

All of us know that the “blue light convoys” – which are, incidentally, a very bad way of keeping someone out of harm’s way because they make the VIP so conspicuous – are the politicians’ way of letting us know how important they are.

Mind you, if you consider how they mismanage and loot, perhaps they need to be protected from those who voted for them.

It is not acceptable in a developing society like ours that the egos of these political parasites take precedence over the need to give people land to give them a chance at prosperity.

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