The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, has recently sharply criticised the FF Plus because in his opinion, the party propagated tax withholding. That is not true.
The truth is that the ANC government is propagating that idea itself with its constant corruption, its struggling municipalities with poor to no service delivery and the fact that the National Treasury allows this to happen even though there is legislation in place to prevent it.
In addition to all this, there is no regard for tax payers whose hard-earned tax money is being wasted in the process and, thus, the people have good reason to ask whether things can carry on like this indefinitely.
South Africa’s Constitution determines that the National Treasury has certain duties. It must ensure transparency and exercise control over all government expenditures and enforce these measures for economic growth to take place. It is also tasked with making sure that government funds are used sensibly.
An honest look at the last few years, however, goes to show that the National Treasury was not successful in executing this mandate or in fulfilling its oversight role.
Proof of this can be found in the findings of the Auditor-General (AG) regarding the execution of legislation meant to guide the spending of government funds on all levels of government. It is particularly evident in the under spending on local government level, specifically with regard to infrastructure.
The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the National Treasury is failing to execute its mandate; illustrated by the fact that R3 billion is needed to save a struggling Land bank from utter ruin.
Another example of this is the large number of municipalities that have unfunded budgets, in some cases, repeatedly. It is the National Treasury’s mandate to exercise control over expenditure on this level.
South Africa finds itself in a financial predicament. The Treasury must ensure that government expenditure delivers value for money and it must do more to combat corruption and misappropriation.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Wouter Wessels on FF Plus
South Africa Today – South Africa News
