STRAIGHT TALK
While Deputy President Paul Mashatile lives lavishly in the luxury homes of his tenderpreneur friends with their billion-rand government contracts, millions of pensioners and their dependents have gone hungry and cold for three weeks because of his government’s failure to pay SASSA grants on time.
SASSA grants are a lifeline to half the nation. It should be unthinkable that they would be paid even a day late, never mind three weeks. And late payment is not the only issue.
A leaked Treasury report tells us that South Africa is going bankrupt amid massive revenue shortfalls and a wasteful, bloated government unwilling to trim anywhere and unable to deliver on even its basic mandate.
At this rate, the government will soon not be able to pay grants at all. Meantime the value of those grants is eroding in the face of a cost-of-living crisis caused by government failures on every front.
Voters have a clear binary choice in the 2024 national and provincial elections: a corrupt, uncaring ANC-EFF Doomsday Coalition or an honest, caring Multi-Party Charter government that prioritises the vulnerable.