Out to LunchOh lord, please buy me a Mercedes-Benz |
David Bullard can understand why workers are angry.
I was recently asked on a radio show what I thought about the municipal workers running through the streets of Johannesburg upending litter bins and generally trashing the place. I replied that I wasn't at all shocked at such behaviour. In fact I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for workers striking for what looks like an absurdly high increase when expressed as a percentage but will only give them an extra few hundred rand a month to put towards the household budget. You can spend that on a main course at lunch in some Joburg restaurants. Contrast this with politicians who think nothing of spending R2.5m on a couple of cars and you can understand why the workers are angry. Fifteen years into democracy and the snouts are still in the trough. I really did have high hopes that the last general election would put an end to this sort of bling politics but it seems that old habits die hard.
Politicians are entitled to a car in Johannesburg and a car in Cape Town which isn't unreasonable given that we bear the enormous expense of having two parliament buildings. That's the first thing the ANC should have done on coming into power in 1994....decided to have one parliament in Pretoria. The Cape Town parliament could have been turned into a very agreeable hotel and the taxpayer wouldn't have to bear the cost of accommodating politicians twice over because it isn't just the cars we have to worry about. Everything is duplicated. You need two of everything so there are two toasters, two ovens, two flatscreen TVs, two lots of household furniture and so it goes on. Imagine the costs that could be cut and the improvement in efficiency if we started thinking like a business in South Africa and decided that SA Inc didn't actually need two head offices. Tough on the politicians from the Cape I admit but this is supposed to be public service not a party at the taxpayer's expense.
But back to the issue of cars. Why is it, I wonder, that an elected representative of the people and someone who has publicly stated that he/she is fighting to eradicate poverty in this country rushes off to buy a top of the range BMW or Land Rover? Nothing wrong with those cars of course but it is possible to get something cheaper. When you're spending your own money and are reluctant to finance a fast depreciating "asset" at a high interest rate over a period of five or six years you tend to be a bit choosy when buying cars. I am as a tight as a duck's rear end when it comes to buying a jam jar. Anything costing more than a quarter of a million rand is ludicrously expensive in my book. Which is why I will either buy a used car with a low mileage at a bargain price or something cheap and highly reliable like a Honda Jazz or even a Daihatsu Materia. Boring I know but fortunately I have the personality to overcome such vehicular impediments.
Not so our politicians it seems. They need something that screams "Make way, I am very important" as they roar down the highway with their VIP escorts. Not only does it have to be flashy but it has to be new. So any suggestion I make in this column that there has never been a better time to buy a low mileage car at a bargain price will be instantly dismissed as racism. I will be accused of not wanting black people to drive new and shiny cars. In which case, I won't mention it. All the same I can't help thinking that if SA Inc was being run along business lines then the rep fleet (after all, what else are politicians but party reps?) should be drawn from the lake of "previously enjoyed vehicles".
And if we were running the country on sound business principles somebody at a higher level of management would be asking whether politicians really need DVD screens in the rear headrests of the front seat and leather upholstery to cushion their rather ample bottoms? But that question will probably never be asked.
So why do politicians feel the need to spend as much of our money as possible on a car? Part of the answer to that is because they can. When I worked at a company that had a car scheme I also made sure I got bang for my buck when I ordered my company car. These days there is no tax advantage to having a company car so most of us own and fund our own cars. Why should it be any different for parliamentarians? Why should they be the only ones in the country to get not one, but two, cars at no cost to them?
Another reason that politicians want to drive the largest, flashiest piece of metal possible is that, in their eyes anyway, it tells everyone else they've made it. That it is possible in South Africa to escape from the township, rise through the ranks of the ruling party and be rewarded for your loyalty with a nice set of wheels.
As the shiny Mercs and Beemers cruise sedately by the informal settlements, their state of the art sound systems blasting out Pink Floyd's Money, you can just imagine the enthusiastic cheers from those who have been waiting for decent housing for decades. The sight of one of their own at the wheel of a luxury limo will make the wait the more bearable I'm sure.
Now, you'll have to excuse me because I've suddenly felt the urge to tip the entire contents of my dustbin on the steps of parliament.
Write to David Bullard: davidbullard@moneyweb.co.za
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