Our public servants need to make some sacrifices too

CONSIDER the average South African.

According to Stats SA, he or she earned just under R22 000 a month during the last quarter of 2019. But that was before having to pay taxes.

According to BankserAfrica, after paying taxes, the average South African took home just over R16 000 a month as of October last year.

Recently, I met an average South African at a community policing forum meeting.

He was there because, like most South Africans, he was concerned about the rising crime rate in his neighbourhood.

This, despite the fact that over R100billion of taxpayers money will be spent on the South African Police Services (SAPS) this financial year.

But it is not the only money the average South African will pay in the hope of being safe.

The South African I met owned a house. As a result, a portion of his rates goes towards Metro Police.

At his home, he has installed security gates, burglar bars and an alarm system. He pays a private security company on a monthly basis for armed response.

The meeting we attended decided that, in addition to these layers of security, the community would pay for a security guard to patrol the streets at night.

Furthermore, members of the community were urged to give up their time after work to patrol the neighbourhood.

The average South Africa with his take home pay of R16 000 does all this while the men and women in senior positions at the SAPS earn about R1.5 million a year, or between R50000 to R60000 a month.

We know this, thanks to the DA who questioned in Parliament how much the SAPS top brass cost the country.

The figure provided was almost a billion rand for the country’s 170 major generals and 654 brigadiers.

Not all men and women in blue are so well rewarded.

The foot soldiers, those who do the actual work fighting and investigating crime, start off with about R5 000 a month.

As the DA correctly pointed out, if the crime stats were anything to go by, the police management was being very well paid for a job they were failing at.

Last week Tito Mboweni, our finance minister, announced plans to cut the government wage bill by R160bn over the next three years. The plan is to slice off R37.8bn this year, R54.9bn next year and R67.5bn in the 2022 financial year. The minister has our support.

When times were good, public servants received increases above the inflation rate. Now that times are tough, they need to sacrifice for the good of our country.

The average South African is already sacrificing enough.