This speech was delivered by GOOD MP Shaun August during the debate on the Appropriation Bill in Parliament today.
4 June 2021
Honourable members…
Our work as parliamentarians and collective overseers of the manner in which our country spends our peoples’ money is of very little value if the money ends up being wasted through poor management and implementation, and diluted by corruption.
Civil servants spend hours, days and weeks developing detailed budgets with projected delivery outcomes that are impossible to reach because when the time comes to actually spend the money a large portion will be misspent or stolen.
The Special investigation unit is busy spending R386 million probing corruption cases with a value of R14 billion rand related to the looting of our Covid defences.
These are startling figures that should ring deafeningly in the ears of every politician and official who has the privilege to deal with the public purse on the rest of our behalf.
We talk too much about the scourge of corruption. We politicise it, weaponise it, and have sleepless nights about it.
We need to actually do something about it.
Chairperson…
As legislators we must demand all Departments install defence systems to detect malfeasance. The looters’ biggest enemy is transparency. We must stop talking about transparency and demonstrate it.
There is technology available to transparently track each and every cent we spend. For as long as state spending is hidden from scrutiny there are opportunities to manipulate it.
GOOD welcomes the fact that it’s leader, Minister de Lille, is leading by example.
The Infrastructure Build Anti-Corruption Forum she recently initiated with the SIU is a proactive mechanism that other departments should seriously consider following.
Honourable Chairperson…
There are many areas of extreme need in our country, each crying out for prioritisation in an environment of an ongoing pandemic, economic misery, and radical poverty and inequality.
It is our responsibility to uphold the Constitutional commitments to improve the quality of life for our most vulnerable and make their existences more bearable, provide some security and comfort.
If we fail to attend to their plight, we fail in our primary endeavour to build back a stable and just democracy after the pandemic.
A budget that helps us fight Covid and puts our economy back on track – with safety mechanisms to avoid any further pilfering – will have the support of all GOOD people.
Thank you.