This is why people are not smiling anymore

John Smith writes:

In last week’s copy of the newspaper, you published a column: ‘In my eie ink’ by Zita Goldswain, highlighting how people are so morbid and not smiling.
Well, this is the reason why: The money is gone!
National Treasury warned Parliament in late August through a memorandum that the 2023 budget has already exceeded by over R140 billion, and severe financial constraints must be immediately implemented, including freezing planned projects, reducing government departments, halting salary increases, and even selling State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

However, the four umbrella labour federations (Cosatu/Saftu/Fedusa and Nactu) rejected these proposals in an urgent meeting with CR on Tuesday, September 12, as there has already been a negotiated salary increase signed, and the reduction of state projects puts about 200,000 job opportunities at risk.

The labour federations have all indicated that any steps to stop or delay negotiated salary increases will lead to a national uncontrollable strike by public service workers. Amid this financial crunch, the ANC Youth League on September 10 appealed to the government to increase the R350 unemployment grant to R1500 and make it a permanent allowance, as well as implementing a R4500 unemployment grant for graduates who cannot find work. However, the National Treasury has indicated again that if the government wants to maintain the R350 grant and not give it up in March 2024, the VAT rate will have to increase by at least 2 per cent to fund these SASSA allowances. Another consequence of budget shortfalls is restrictions on departmental budgets like SAPS and SANW, which will have a very negative impact on the 2024 election for the ANC.

A reduced SAPS budget will send the message that the government is not serious about combating crime. Cosatu also directly stated that if the government continues with the National Treasury’s proposals, the ANC government will be voted out in the 2024 election.
The government’s Postbank, responsible for monthly SASSA grant payments, saw its Chairman and two top board members resign last week due to government interference in the bank’s policy management.

This comes after approximately 700,000 pensioners who use Postbank and SASSA accounts had their SASSA cards not working for the September 8th payment. SASSA regularly faces disruptions in welfare grant payments due to technical issues and funding shortages.

Furthermore, six million people who qualify for the R350 monthly unemployment grant have not received any allowances for the past year because they could not be “traced.”

Approximately 26 million South Africans are directly dependent on SASSA grants, and a mass default has the potential to cause immediate local or national chaos.
Avian influenza has struck again among poultry egg farmers since June 2023, resulting in the culling of more than 3 million laying hens.

This will negatively impact the availability of eggs by more than 20% because it takes six to 12 months to replace these laying hens.

The poultry industry is further affected because the necessary vaccines are not available in South Africa and must now be imported.
Eskom’s electricity supply is still in a state of emergency, with rolling blackouts fluctuating between stages 3 and 6, with a looming threat of stages 7 and 8 due to poor maintenance and shortages of urgently needed replacement parts.

Stage 7 and 8 load-shedding means 12-14 hours a day without electricity. More than 45% of the total generation capacity is constantly offline due to faults. On Wednesday, September 13, Eskom made an urgent appeal to electricity consumers to immediately switch off all geysers, stoves, and other electrical appliances due to high demand! This is happening while Mozambique wants to know why South Africa is no longer interested in the 100MW they offered!
City Power of Johannesburg is in crisis as it stands on the brink of a total electrical network collapse. Their annual budget for maintenance, including replacement parts, has been completely exhausted.

City Power receives about 4 000 power outage reports per day but can only address 800 of them.

This leads to large areas being without power and water supply for days. Additionally, such power outages are being exploited by criminal syndicates to loot substations or steal cables.

The situation has spiralled out of control, and due to increasing illegal electrical connections, the entire network is at risk of tripping. During a power show of force to demonstrate that the municipal management of Johannesburg wants to immediately take control of the “hijacked buildings” situation in the city centre, electricity was cut off from three hijacked buildings because they allegedly owe the municipality R13 million.

In response, residents sprayed municipal officials with tear gas and drove them away. Residents claim that they pay their rent and electricity every month and that the syndicates controlling the buildings are responsible for the outstanding debts.
Rand Water and Johannesburg Water issued an urgent warning to all residents on September 18 to immediately reduce water consumption.

The water providers warn that all their pumping stations are operating at maximum capacity but that water consumption is too high.

Several reservoir dams/tanks are empty, and there is a risk of a total collapse of the water supply network!
An illegal strike by municipal workers in Pretoria has been ongoing for two months since a salary negotiation could not be executed because the Tshwane municipality has already overspent its 2023 budget by R3 billion.

Large-scale damage to municipal property and intimidation of workers occurs weekly.

Marches and attacks on municipal service delivery occur violently, with no prospects for resolving the situation. Political interference in the strike to overthrow the DA municipal administration is observed.
NSFAS funds are still not paid to all authorised students, and various universities are directly affected when students disrupt campuses to express their dissatisfaction.

At Univen, students became riotous and even burned SAPS vehicles, causing chaos.
At the University of Pretoria, the eight EFF candidates who were elected to the SRC were suspended after midnight intimidation incidents in the residences and the singing of “Kill the Boer” in a trial condemned by the university.

Racial tensions between white and black students are at a breaking point and are being fueled by the EFF.

In response to the suspension of EFF candidates, excessive violence and disruptions are expected at the university, which could spill over to other universities in solidarity with the Pretoria campus.
In Diepsloot, Soweto, a threatening xenophobic situation is emerging between residents (especially those from hostels) and foreigners.

Foreigners also declare that they are ready to defend themselves against attacks from residents.

Disruptive protests regularly occur, during which major routes like the N14 and even the N1 around Diepsloot are blocked.
Inspections of water and sanitation-related infrastructure projects in the Northern Cape, conducted by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on September 13/14, 2023, revealed that NK water infrastructure is on the “verge of collapse.”

Kimberley is in crisis, and Kgatelopele (Danielskuil) is in a crisis, even after both municipalities spent millions in the current fiscal year to upgrade waterworks. The Vaal Gamagara water scheme is already outdated.

The water capacity is 34 million litres, but only 16 million litres of water are produced, and the scheme struggles to meet demand during peak times. Many surrounding areas such as Olifantshoek and Barkly-Wes do not receive enough water and sometimes go without water for days.

This is a problem caused by years of ANC municipal mismanagement and non-payment of services. Municipalities owe the Vaal Gamagara water scheme more than R133 million and R325.140 million to the Department of Water and Sanitation.

A significant increase in the number of wastewater treatment plants classified as critical, from 27 to 46, has been observed.

A total of 39 water purification plants are also in critical condition. Altogether, 39 wastewater treatment plants are also in critical condition.
Actual increases in crimes such as CIT heists and home and business robberies are observed.
It does not help to bury your head in the sand. Face reality.

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