Fuel tax quagmire

THIS financial year South Africa expects to collect about R1.5 trillion in taxes. Unfortunately, South Africa spends a lot more than it earns. In the current financial year, we will have to borrow about R180 billion to make ends meet. The shortfall could have been a lot bigger had we not increased taxes.

According to calculations, it was expected that the increase in the general fuel levy as well as in alcohol and tobacco excise duties would bring in an additional R2.6 billion this financial year.

The fuel levy – now at R3.37/ litre – is under increasing focus because of the record price we are paying for fuel. The projected revenue from the fuel levy this financial year is R77.5bn.

This year alone there have been four hikes four months in a row, with the price for some brands of petrol now exceeding R16/l inland for the first time.

However, those who are advocating a drop in the fuel taxes are not saying just how we will fund the resulting shortfall in the fiscus. A R1/litre reduction in the fuel levy will impact Treasury’s income by about R23bn a year.

There are only two options available. The first involves raising other taxes. VAT went up this financial year from 14 to 15%. Would those advocating for lower fuel prices call for VAT to be increased to 16% to make up the revenue shortfall? Would they prefer personal taxes or business taxes to go up?

The second option would be to cut expenditure. But what do you cut? Health? Education? The police? It would be great if we could reduce corruption, but there is no budget for corruption. There are many failures our government must take responsibility for. But, in all fairness, the price of petrol is something the government has very little control over.

So, while the DA and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) can hold as many marches as they like, they are not going to make any impact on the rand or on international oil prices. And it is these two factors that play the biggest role in determining how much we pay at the pumps.

The same is true of Visvin Reddy and his organisation, People Against Petrol and Paraffin Price Increases. In June Reddy urged motorists to wear black and to switch off their car engines for 10 minutes. Despite all these efforts, the price of fuel went up once again yesterday.

It proves just how ineffective the current line of protests has been. I AM PROFOUNDLY sad about the passing of Professor Bongani Mayosi – Cape Town-based cardiologist, researcher and dean of the health sciences faculty at UCT.

We at the Netcare Group deeply mourn the loss of a health-care pioneer of immense stature.

South Africa has lost a great and courageous leader in the medical field, and someone who fought fearlessly for the transformation and inclusion of black South Africans in health care.

Professor Mayosi was also an exceptionally talented clinician and

Land seizures will hit South Africa hard

THE land question is an extremely complex subject, often giving way to emotions rather than common sense.

There was a very interesting and important message from the International Monetary Fund, The Mercury, July 31, regarding land seizures without compensation.

The message is very clear in warning against such action if South Africa wants to attract foreign investment stating in no uncertain terms that “land reform should focus on enhancing agricultural productivity, improving land administration to strengthen security of tenure, and reducing poverty. The “without compensation” clause has been identified as a concern for investment”.

Zimbabwe failed to adhere to these warnings, which led to the complete collapse of their economy and agricultural sector. The proof is there for all to see. They are now crying out for foreign investment and financial aid from the Western countries.

“Investment” from China and Russia in the form of “loans” do not come without big strings attached, most of which the South African public has been kept in the dark about. Both countries will want their pound of flesh in return, which has been to the detriment of most African countries that accepted their “loans”, the very reason why eventually these self-same African countries have turned to the West for financial salvation.

Will the ANC government take these factors into consideration when making its mind up on the proposed land seizures? They have been warned. COLIN BURGER Assagay

Land expropriation won’t work for us

AT ITS lekgotla, the ANC agreed it would go ahead and amend the constitution with regard to “expropriation of land” without compensation.

However, a lack of detail is going to make investors nervous, sellers a bit more desperate and foreign investors ever more cautious.

Immediately the rand, which was on a winning streak to below R13 (think lower petrol prices), lost its ground. Ramaphoria will become Ramafear. Just the gift some opposition parties need to boost their weakening support.

This is no doubt going to keep lawyers, accountants and property loan consultants very busy with debates and possibly bond registrations and some offshore transfer of funds and investments.

Interest in loans means lower taxes to the state and less to invest.

What I find strange is why politicians do not tell their overseas investors and delegations this message. Many keep promising sunshine investment politics and policies yet the message to the electorate is different.

Land redistribution is important. However, no person who ever got a piece of land and did sweet nothing with it ever became rich or employed. We have ample examples of prime property opportunities being wasted. Circumstances do not allow for development.

In all of these debates it seems cardiologist, and one of South Africa’s most talented researchers.

He was passionate about the education of medical students, and the development of South African medical academics.

Concerned about the shortage of qualified academic doctors in leadership roles at South African medical schools, Professor Mayosi envisioned the establishment of a PhD scholarship which would give qualified South African black candidates the opportunity to further their studies and research in order to build academic excellence in various only productive farmers and businesses are targeted. The next question is who will the beneficiaries be?

Making a piece of “land” profitable requires skill, imagination, initiatives, capital, patience, huge risks and lots of management with payment horizons stretching beyond a person’s lifetime in some instances.

One just has to see how many once-prime buildings in our old central business districts are now abandoned and derelict.

The former homelands are a textbook example of land redistribution and the results are self-explanatory. Many of these areas are prime farming areas. Ample grazing land, water and yet animal herds are not at optimum levels.

How different is the current government’s initiative going to be from the previous? Sadly, many do not think South Africa is competing in a global world and investments and capital can shift very fast.

While the theory and rhetoric may sound good for elections, this has serious implications for investments, jobs and South Africa’s longterm prospects. MUHAMMAD OMAR

Durban North

Adjust social grants accordingly

DEAR President Cyril Ramaphosa,

Thank you for receiving my letter with two suggestions, and for the advice to write again if there was no fields of medicine.

One of Professor Mayosi’s many achievements is the Hamilton Naki Scholarship, which was established in 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the first heart transplant.

The scholarship was the brainchild of Professor Mayosi, to honour the legacy of Hamilton Naki and numerous other South Africans who were denied the chance to fulfil their potential in the field of medicine during apartheid and to ensure the continued progress of medicine in our country.

We at Netcare were privileged to response within 14 days.

Please may I repeat that I am concerned about the fact that applicants for a disability pension from the Government via Sassa are given a letter of rejection that says “if aggrieved, return within 90 days”. They say they are being told that it means that they must stay away for three months.

Yet the correct meaning is that they can return soon with a letter to say that they are aggrieved and want an internal reconsideration of the (rejected) material.

If they stay away for three months they find that all their forms have been discarded and they are told to go back to their psychologists, neurologists, doctors, clinics and hospitals without having any income for bus-fare.

The sickly 6-year-old child that I hosted from Child Welfare 24 years ago is unemployable due to sniffing, sneezing, coughing, wheezing and swelling up with anaphylactic shock on contact with any of her numerous allergens, as well as ear infections and lack of immunity.

Employers don’t want her, even if I pay her to work as a volunteer. So she has made four babies in order to get the pitiful little grants each month and on grant day she SMSes me “The loan sharks have taken all my money.”

She says she needs warm clothes for the six of them (there is a smoking mother), bunk beds, an extra room and R1 200 school fees.

My second suggestion is that the government should give bigger join hands with Professor Mayosi and all of the medical schools of our South African universities to fund this scholarship initiative under the auspices of the Physician Partnerships Trust, which forms part of Netcare’s Health Partners for Life programme.

Under the leadership of Professor Mayosi, who also chaired the panel of eminent selectors, the scholarship has to date enabled 14 deserving South African medical specialists to undertake post-doctoral studies and research in their respective fields of specialisation, grants but only for one baby, after which the lady who wants more children must pay or have a father for the child who is able and willing to pay. MRS RN STAPERSMA Bellair

Drunk officer should be dismissed

THE picture and story, The Mercury, July 30, on page 3 – “passed out drunk cop investigation” refers.

It is really a shame to see a police officer in uniform who allegedly passed out drunk at a Durban mall with his fireman holstered.

What if the firearm was removed by someone and got into the wrong hands? The officer is supposed to uphold law and order.

If the officer was drunk, he is not setting a good example but creating a bad impression, that police officers get drunk while on duty.

If he was drunk, he should not be warned, but dismissed from the police force, in order to set an example, so that other police officers don’t indulge in drinking while on duty. It is absolutely necessary that all police officers are given a warning regarding this kind of behaviour.

This amounts to grave misconduct on the part of the officer seemingly lying on the floor drunk in full view of the public. This cannot be tolerated. ISMAIL MOOLLA Umzinto making a meaningful contribution not only towards the advancement of academic medicine in our country and to the benefit of our people but also internationally.

We express our sincere condolences to Professor Mayosi’s family and loved ones; he has left an indelible footprint and enduring legacy in the medical landscape in South Africa, and will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege to know him. RICHARD FRIEDLAND Chief Executive Officer Netcare

India’s minority groups stateless

MORE than four million people left off a draft list of citizens in northeast India on Monday have effectively been made stateless.

This is the latest attempt by the right-wing Hindu-dominated government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant greater privilege to the Hindus at the expense of the minority communities ahead of next year’s general election.

Separate specially formed courts in the last few years had already declared as foreigners some 1000 residents – mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims – and interned them in half-a-dozen detention camps.

Once stateless people have been pushed out of their former homes, they have no claim on any country in the world, which means that no nation offers them a place to settle and be their citizens. For example, thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been in limbo after escaping Myanmar. Although they have been given shelter in temporary camps, including India, they have no nation to belong to. If Assam expels its newly stateless residents, they may also find that they have nowhere to legally live.

Chances are India will end up creating the newest group of stateless people, that will echo the Rohingya people who fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. YUNUS SOOMAR Durban North