Zuma’s words ring hollow

IN A WRITTEN response in Parliament to Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota, President Jacob Zuma said: “We are fighting wasteful expenditure and corruption. We are also freezing budgets of non-essential goods and services, withdrawing funding for posts that have been vacant for some time.”

He is also reported to have said that the government supported “tough measures without compromising service delivery and our commitment to providing basic services to the poor”.

It is lamentable that Zuma, of all people, should make statements such as these, showing the man for the hypocrite that he is.

His own “wasteful expenditure” in Nkandla is legendary, and he is still to have his “day in court”, to answer more than 700 charges of corruption.

The nation has endured the fallout of his cavalier attitude to accountability. His reluctance to fulfil his duty to appear in Parliament has not gone down well with the electorate, who are interpreting his actions – or, rather, non-actions – as the hallmark of a coward.

Does Zuma’s speechwriter consider his words before penning them? A real shame that Zuma did not consider “freezing budgets of non- essential goods and services” before work was started at his Nkandla paradise.

Withdrawing funding for posts that have been vacant for some time? Which posts? Doctors? Engineers? Train drivers? Police officers? Teachers?

The country already suffers a dearth in these professions; we need more personnel in all these fields, so for Zuma to freeze posts is absurd and irresponsible, and is a curb on growth.

How Zuma proposed to support the “tough measures” while not compromising service delivery is anyone’s guess and committing to provide basic services for the poor is a no-brainer in light of the above constraints.

We witness almost daily protests throughout the country over the lack of services, the most recent being lack of housing, and potable water. There is not a single area of service delivery that one can fairly say is even acceptable; every one is deficient, or unacceptable, Eskom being just one example.

Zuma is whistling in the dark for even mentioning that the aim of last year’s medium- term budget policy statement was to “restore balance to the nation’s finances, boost investment and achieve better value for money in public expenditure”. No one will invest in a country where one of the top priority factors for running any business is the supply of power – electricity.

The country is losing billions by non-performance of a state resource – Eskom – and this has come about through the sheer bloody-mindedness of the government’s pursuing destructive policies such as affirmative action, which has seen cadre deployment in positions requiring only the best qualifications and expertise.

The government is wholly to blame for the mess we are in, as they would not listen to, and take advice from, people who knew what they were talking about. That was way back in 2006. And nothing has changed.