Corruption and inefficiencies in the public sector cost taxpayer dearly. And in ways that some may not begin to fathom.
Buffalo City metro regularly squanders ratepayers’ money on expensive vanity projects which — if they ever materialise — could benefit the metro.
But the benefit can only be felt if they are done well, on time, and within budget.
Instead, corruption and inefficiency lead to projects being allocated to hopeless contractors that don’t even pretend to have the capacity to do them.
A wilful lack of oversight results in ballooning costs, project overruns and inferior outcomes.
The controversial beachfront projects, the Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels Recreational Park, otherwise known as “the stoep”, and Marina Glen are two examples of many such projects.
The stoep cost an eye-watering R87m and did not deliver on original expectations.
The Marina Glen renovation project suffered extraordinary delays and the costs ballooned from R4m to more than R30m.
Now the Special Investigating Unit says it has waited more than six months for premier Oscar Mabuyane to sign off on its pending investigation into the two projects.
What some may not know is that an SIU investigation comes with a hefty price tag which, ironically, must be paid by the entity being investigated.
In other words, BCM ratepayers pay twice, to fund a failed or inferior project and then to have it investigated.
The SIU revealed in September last year that departments, provinces, and municipalities owed it about R1.1bn in fees for investigations it has conducted.
This included the Eastern Cape, which owed it some R150m.
To date, BCM has already had to pay the SIU millions of rand for its investigations into the crooked R17m black refuse bag contract, the infamous R10m Nelson Mandela memorial scandal, and the corrupt multi-million-rand Covid-19 PPE procurement contracts.
The SIU said in January last year it had observed in these three investigations a “general abuse” of procurement processes in BCM including” political interference” in decision-making.
No doubt the investigations into the two beachfront projects will make similar findings with similar results.
But, it seems absurd that while BCM ratepayers pay both for the maladministration and the investigation into it, the administrators and politicians responsible for the mess face no consequences whatsoever.
It is a situation that needs to be turned on its head.
It is time that those responsible for the fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure pay the price and that the ratepayers, at the very least, get the satisfaction of seeing the wheels of justice at work.
One can only hope now that the premier has finally signed off on the investigation, he personally sees to it that justice is served.
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