We pay for state-linked corruption

A recent article by investigative journalist Kyle Cowan bares testimony to the heart-ripping criminality perpetrated by the Gupta-owned mines while the family was in control. I am particularly driven mad by the assertion that in the two years the mines were under the control of the blood-sucking family, Eskom was under-supplied by nearly four million tons of coal, while the Guptas were exporting four million tons at an average price of R800 to R1 000 a ton and netting around R3bn in profits! In light of all this criminality and cynicism, we the innocent people who always pay for our services are expected to have patience with Eskom’s irritating madness of loadshedding that goes on for hours on end! Given the reality of climate change currently being experienced through sweltering conditions, as well as an economy that is battered by corruption, we buy those goods that can be refrigerated to last us long. And when the power is cut off, they become spoilt and we are forced to discard them! This forces us to seek relief from the little that we saved to replace the rotten foods.

How long are we, the civilians, going to be the victims of irresponsibility by the politicians? How long must we pay for the selfish decisions of those we put in power? Can’t parliament, as a lawmaking body of the republic, make laws that can make those who waste taxpayers’ money personally responsible to pay them back or be jailed for a long time?

Why are those who were on Eskom’s board at the time, who did not make those Gupta-owned mines respect their contractual obligations, not criminally charged?

Clearly, they did not only harm the lives of innocent people, but assaulted the very economy of the country.

Or is it because those who must make such laws are the very same politicians who are devastating the country with their ill decisions?

John Mkwanazi, by e-mail