{"id":136685,"date":"2016-09-14T19:03:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=136685"},"modified":"2016-09-14T18:03:26","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T16:03:26","slug":"this-is-how-much-of-your-money-government-has-wasted-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/136685\/this-is-how-much-of-your-money-government-has-wasted-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"This is how much of your money government has wasted this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African public has been bombarded with media reports about government projects or branches using up millions, even billions of rands of taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n

These range from irregular and wasteful expenditure at provincial and municipal level, to infrastructure projects which often balloon well beyond their original budgets.<\/p>\n

So when broken down, how much do these billions of rands translate to an individual\u2019s direct exposure to them?<\/p>\n

In 2015, BusinessTech broke down the costs for a number of scandals, including the widely publicized Nkandla saga, the Prasa Afro 4000 contracts, and e-toll guarantees.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0This is how much of your money the government is wasting<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over and above 2015’s list, however, 2016 has added a few more high-profile scandals into the mix, most notably presidential planes and questionable Gupta contracts.<\/p>\n

Here are six more cases of public spending or wasteful expenditure where taxpayers are footing the bill – and how much it is costing you.<\/p>\n

For the calculations below, we used three groups of individuals: the bulk tax base, who account for almost 93% of all taxes; the SARS registered tax base; and South Africa’s eligible tax base.<\/p>\n

Determining the exact number of taxpayers is a tricky affair. In 2015, union Solidarity found that approximately 3.3 million taxpayers paid 93% of all income tax in the country<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SARS has a registered tax base of around 15.4 million people – while the eligible tax base of South Africa (adults between the ages af 15 and 64) is at 33 million.<\/p>\n

This is how much \u2013 in theory \u2013 that individuals paid in some of the more high-profile cases of public spending or wasteful expenditure in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Zuma’s new jet\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Boeing<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R400 million<\/td>\nR121<\/td>\nR26<\/td>\nR12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has confirmed that president Jacob Zuma will get a new jet plane to replace Inkwazi, and that R300 million has been budgeted for the purchase<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Analysts and aerospace experts have said that the purchase is completely unnecessary, and that the president’s plane is nowhere near the end of its lifespan. Regardless, the purchase of a new jet will go ahead, with a R100 million budget for leasing other planes until it arrives.<\/p>\n

Eskom-Gupta contracts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Legal<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R839 million<\/td>\nR254<\/td>\nR55<\/td>\nR25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In September, Treasury blocked Eskom from extending a coal contract with the Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration worth R855 million<\/a><\/strong>, as it continues an investigation into the power utility’s other contracts.<\/p>\n

While this prevented further money being pumped through to Tegeta via Eskom, two previous payments were made to the company to the tune of R586 million and R253 million.<\/p>\n

The coal being supplied by Tegeta is not up to required standards, according to experts.<\/p>\n

SAA bailout\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SAA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R5 billion<\/td>\nR1 515<\/td>\nR325<\/td>\nR152<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After much to-and-fro between SAA and National Treasury over the past two years, SAA has finally been granted a R5 billion guarantee by the state<\/a><\/strong> to ensure its fiscal viability.<\/p>\n

The airline has made a R6.5 billion loss over the past two financial years, however, and without the bailout from Treasury would likely crash and burn.<\/p>\n

The bailout has been criticised by opposition parties, saying that with president Jacob Zuma’s friend, Dudu Myeni still involved at the airline, it’s sending billions of rand into a hole.<\/p>\n

Tshwane contracts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Corruption<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R100 million\u00a0–\u00a0R10 billion<\/td>\nR30 – R3 030<\/td>\nR6.50 – R649<\/td>\nR3.00 – R303<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

DA mayor in Tshwane Solly Msimanga is investigating a number of contracts in the municipality<\/a><\/strong>, after he uncovered a contract worth R100 million, where money was paid, but no work was actually done.<\/p>\n

Msimanga said that the contracts could amount to over R10 billion as more and more dodgy deals come to light.<\/p>\n

Eskom Ingula Hydro plant\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Eskom<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R27\u00a0billion<\/td>\nR8 181<\/td>\nR1 753<\/td>\nR818<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A report by Carte Blanche found that Eskom\u2019s hydro-powered Ingula plant in Kwazulu Natal, is more than R27 billion over budget<\/a><\/strong> and will be at least four years late when it finally comes online, in 2017.<\/p>\n

The initial budget for the project was R8.9 billion, and has since ballooned to R36 billion.<\/p>\n

Irregular, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Government<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n
Reported cost<\/th>\nCost per taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per SARS registered taxpayer<\/th>\nCost per citizen<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
R31.4 billion<\/td>\nR9 515<\/td>\nR2 039<\/td>\nR952<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Auditor-general Kimi Makwetu reported in June 2016 that irregular expenditure among South Africa’s municipalities has more than doubled<\/a><\/strong> over the last five years, hitting R14.75 billion in the last financial year.<\/p>\n

Fruitless and wasteful expenditure was up to R1.34 billion, while unauthorised expenditure hit R15.32 billion.<\/p>\n

These categories don’t necessarily represent illegal activity, but show poor accounting and administration among municipalities, where money can easily bleed out without a trace.<\/p>\n

More on\u00a0money<\/h3>\n

Biggest wasteful spenders in SA government<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

South Africans owe billions in debt that they simply can\u2019t pay \u2013 and worse is still to come<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One graph shows how bad South Africa\u2019s consumer debt is<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African public has been bombarded with media reports about government projects or branches using up millions, and often billions of rands of taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":136055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-136685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136685"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136711,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136685\/revisions\/136711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}