Auditor-general a gem in a tarnished crown

IF THERE’S one word you can lift your arms up to, it must be the auditor-general.

She’s just one of the people in government you can admire. Time and again the auditor-general has produced scathing reports on the municipalities in our country.

With a few exceptions, they paint a grim picture of municipalities in shambolic disarray. Like crime, corruption, rape and murder in the country, it’s become a familiar story of graft, gross mismanagement, inefficiency and indifference.

At the heart of the problem is cadre deployment. But the president of our country sees nothing wrong with cadre deployment.

It is here to stay, he says. It’s good for the party; that’s all that matters. So what do you think the municipal officials do when the auditor-general gives them her report?

They throw it aside with contempt, put up their feet and with one hand on the phone and the other on the Kentucky, they have a ball of a time, not on the dance floor but right here in their air-conditioned municipal offices.

No one checks on them. They know that whatever the auditor-general says will have no consequences for them. Their jobs are secure. All the auditor-general’s hard work goes in vain. Life’s such a joyride when you are with the ANC.

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof