Loose cannon Robert Kirby
Let me be among the last to criticise that fine fellow, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. His is a thankless job simply because, when tossing the public coin, there are not only too many takers but all they ever do is squeal for more.
Can you remember the occasion when any government department actually cursed its fiscal gift for being abundant? Have you ever heard a civil servant grieve about getting more than his department can actually use? It just doesn’t happen. Be it traffic department or art gallery, local rat- catcher or the Independent Electoral Commission, they are all permanently short of the ready.
By extension, who ultimately is held to blame for all this deficiency in funding? Poor old Manuel. His task is a grim one. Not only must he shoulder the blame when inefficient government spendthrifts squander their budgets on overseas junkets and consultancy fees, Manuel is the natural target for all manner of invective whenever he pushes up the tax on beer and cigarettes.
But nowhere can it be harder for this embattled man to slice the loaf fairly than in deciding what goes towards funding Cabinet-level priorities.
Just as an example, let’s take Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s recent two-for- one combination Blue Train and “African renaissance” inauguration trip.
There are, of course, some who will argue that inviting a coterie of one’s sleek political brethren on a five-day luxury train journey is not an exemplary way to salute the “African renaissance”.
Such cynics would be quick to point out that the more you jumble it up, the more contradictory symbolism becomes. When mounting a celebration to greet the rebirth of African historical values, the recruitment of intrinsic African social and cultural habits, the very last venue to consider is a railway train.
The railway is the quintessential colonial hand-me-down, the very emblem of imperial avarice. African railways were built – at vast African cost in labour and lives – with the prime objective of transporting the continent’s fantastic natural wealth down to the coast and on to greedy waiting ships. Railways are an antithesis of African identity.
But no more especially is the railway a manifest symptom of African exploitation as when the lines run straight to places with names like Victoria Falls.
Still, at only R5-million for the whole Blue Train shebang (drinks and souvenir mugs included) it would be churlish to deny our worthy deputy president the right to essay his vision in so encompassing a manner.
Once again, what about dear Mr Manuel? When writing off that blue R5-million to petty cash, did he cock an eye to the future? Has the rest of 1998’s binge-and-bash government expenditure helped him to plan for a mounting quota of frolicsome occasions in this present election year? It is also the year in which Mbeki will be taking full office. It is also the last year before the new millennium.
That combination alone must ring alarm bells for Manuel. We suspect he’s already had to make provision for other 1999 national essentials, like R57- million for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit; a standby billion to finance sudden military invasions of trusting neighbouring countries; R100-million just in case National Police Commissioner George Fivaz boils over again; R5-million to cover the immediate demands by the Alan Boesak defense team; a paltry R10-million for sundry Cabinet-level carousings; several hundreds of thousands to service still unsettled graft-debt (like that accrued three years ago in fraudulent Independent Broadcasting Authority credit card usage by one of Minister the Most Honourable Jay Naidoo’s current chief advisers, Pieter de Klerk); R8-billion for golden handshakes to relapsing political giants. The list must seem endless.
It would be enlightening to see a full breakdown of all the other, let’s be arch and call it non-critical spending. What exactly is the annual budgetary allowance for political cupidity? This tally to include outlay on summits, conventions, the employment of the Emmanuel Shaws of this world, commissions of inquiry into gender equality, state banquets and, of course, train tickets.
It’s one thing to argue that South Africa actually needs new military hardware to the tune of R29-billion, even when such outlay heralds one of two national misdemeanors: either we are about to start a war, or are about to go into the Democratic Republic of Congo and help one continue.
It’s entirely another to spend zillions calming that irrepressible gipsy we all harbour in our souls; not when our brothers and sisters continue to live under plastic and corrugated iron, when there are no books in their schools.