Have we lost our moral compass?

When this country is facing the worst economic crisis in its history – as unemployment rates spiral and children starve to death, it is barely comprehensible that government has cut the subsidies which boost the salaries of social workers in the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) sector.

The cuts were effected recently by the department of social development, resulting in many organisations closing down, according to chief executive of Bethany House Trust Gert Jonker.

“Without the salary subsidies, most NGOs cannot survive,” he said.

The idea of the “partners in service delivery” concept, is that the department works with NGOs, effectively making limited government money for social services go even further because the private sector picks up part of the tab.

These sort of private-public partnerships in delivering services which are, in most countries, the duty of the government, is a good solution for a country like ours where taxpayer money is stretched so thin.

It goes without saying, of course, that the government’s coffers have been drained by the looting of the state capture years – and which continues to this day. And there are still hare-brained schemes – like the R22 million flag project – which suck up even more.

What happened to our moral compass?