by David Biggs
Our noble leaders obviously have rather a poor reputation when it comes to looking after taxpayers’ money.
It’s reached the point when we actually expect corrupt officials to plunder and steal wherever government projects are launched. It’s interesting to note that even before the first batch of the elusive coronavirus vaccine reaches our shores questions are being asked of the government.
And they are not questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, or how it will be distributed. No, they’re about curbing corruption.
In other words, whose grubby hands will be in the cookie-jar this time? The head of the African Alliance and a founding member of the Vaccine Advocacy Council, Tian Johnson, predicted that the “pandemic of corruption and mismanagement in the public health sector” would raise its head with the Covid-19 vaccine procurement, just as it had with “a range of public healthcare issues”. (His words, not mine.)
The head of Outa (the organisation undoing tax abuse), Wayne Duvenage, is quoted as saying: “We believe there will be corruption and maladministration.”
The Corruption Watch organisation has apparently sent a number of questions to the national Treasury, demanding assurance that there won’t be corruption this time, like there was with the scandalous matter of obtaining personal protection equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers.
I find all this little short of unbelievable. Here we have senior officials of national organisations saying quite clearly: “We’re gonna be robbed.”
They’ve seen it happen time and time before and they are sure it will happen again.
What is wrong with us? Are we South Africans simply incapable of honest dealing? Is there nobody in our country’s leadership team strong enough to say, “this corruption has to stop”? And to punish those who are robbing us?
Unless this “pandemic of corruption” is halted soon it will destroy our country much faster than the Covid-19 is doing. And there will be no survivors this time. There’s no vaccine against corruption.
Last Laugh
Suburban dog owners can be very competitive.
One man bragged to his neighbour: “I have the most intelligent dog on the block. Every morning he goes out to collect the Cape Argus from the letterbox and brings it inside and drops it on my chair.”
“Yes, I know,” said the neighbour.
“How do you know?”
“My dog told me.”
* "Tavern of the Seas" is a daily column written in the Cape Argus by David Biggs. Biggs can be contacted at [email protected]
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Cape Argus