By Michael McWilliams*
Many poor people posted or sent messages after reading my Open Letter to the ANC and essentially said that the problems I pointed to were mainly problems of rich people, and wouldn’t get anyone in the poorer communities fired up enough to do something, least of all, initiate the drastic actions recommended.
On re-reading the letter, I can see how my lack of expansion on the economic situation could lead people to think that this may be the case.
The more I think about this misconception, the more I am impressed with the way the ANC conceal the truth from their electorate.
The truth of the matter is that the mismanagement (to use a kind word for it) of the countries economy is in fact much more of a threat to disadvantaged people than to advantaged ones. In fact, it is probably of greater danger to government workers than anyone else. We know that BEE and AA has managed to transform the government into an almost entirely previously disadvantaged workforce.
Government Employees Pension Fund looted.
COSATU and Government employees:
These people believe they owe their livelihood to the ANC and are a mighty pillar of strength for the ANC when voting time comes around.
This is completely understandable, but what isn’t understandable is why these loyal people are the ones standing right in the firing line when it comes to the ANC top leaders freely looting their pensions and savings.
Read also: EFF: ANC steamrolled Pension Reform. Cosatu’s crocodile tears.
One of many examples of government worker’s money being looted is the purchase of Independent Media by the Sekunjalo consortium.
Sekunjalo, being a transformed outfit, decided they would like to buy Independent Media and sold the idea to the ANC as an ideal propaganda weapon to use against the generally hostile media the ANC usually encounters.
Furthermore, if the price paid was double what the company was actually worth, there was a super opportunity to share the excess funds between all participants.
All that needed to be done was to find a sucker who would finance a deal that made no financial sense at all.
The commercial banks wouldn’t touch a deal like that with a bargepole, so a compliant donor was needed who had lots of cash lying around.
Read also: Herman Mashaba responds: ANC failed the people. Time for change.
The Government Employees Pension Fund was just such a sucker.
The GEPF has lots of cash. This is entirely made up of the pension savings of all government employees and it is meant to be invested in solid and secure industries so as to, at the very least, keep place with inflation. This is so that when it actually has to be paid out, either when a contributor goes on pension or dies, there is enough to support the contributor or their family.
Of course, the ANC knows that not everyone is going to go on pension or die at the same time, so they can take almost any amount out of the fund and because it will be noted on the books as a loan, nobody will really miss it.
Everyone involved in the deal knows full well that there is no likelihood that the loan will be repaid. Firstly the price was double what the company was worth, so all of that “extra” money that went into the dealmakers own pockets is gone for ever. Secondly, the press is a dying business, rapidly being taken over by electronic media. That’s why the original owners were keen to sell in the first place. This means that the loan will not ever be repaid from profits.
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Anyone who cares to look will see that the new owners are not riding in taxis to work in order to repay the loan.
This deal leaves the Independent Media Company owing the Government Employees Pension Fund around R890m. And with interest already accumulated, it leaves nearly a Billion Rand hole in the pensions of all government workers.
This is only one of many other similar deals. An investment in Carmac of R2.7bn went to a donor to President Zuma’s Educational Trust and another loan Holcim and one to Elephant, which became a shareholder in Telkom. Imagine the surprise when in ten or fifteen years, the people now contributing big slices of their income so as to ensure that they can survive retirement, are told that the cupboard is bare and that their pensions have not grown at all and can maybe buy a loaf of bread a month because the ANC took all the money in 2016?
New Law to minimize pension withdrawals
The recent law that seeks to prevent government pensioners from withdrawing their savings, or at least taxing those withdrawals so heavily that it makes no financial sense to make withdrawals, is more likely to be a measure taken to preserve what little is left in the fund, rather than one to safeguard the pensioner.
Rich people don’t pay all the tax
Te previously advantaged crowd have been making a lot of noise about how they pay most of the taxes collected in the country.
Read also: How the world sees us: Tim Knight – SA’s slide from Madiba to Zuma. Oh Boy.
While that may indeed be true with regard to Income Tax and Company Tax, it certainly isn’t true for all taxes.
Everyone pays VAT on almost everything they buy. This means that 14% of a persons monthly spending on things other than basic foodstuffs goes to the government. It is actually much worse than that because hidden taxes such as the Fuel Levy, Alcohol and Tobacco taxes, toll fees and stamp duties all eat away at everyone’s money. This is all added to Company Tax and PAYE and all the other duties that are paid to government to enable the apex predators in the ANC to build their palaces and drive their Maserati’s.
So, poor countrymen and women, don’t for a minute think that the ANC are just shafting the Previously Advantaged, in this regard, they are equal opportunity looters.
You should all become just as annoyed as your rich co-citizens as to how you are being used as milk-cows for the VVIPs with the private jets and the blue light convoys.
- Michael McWilliams, a member of the Biznews Community, has been married for 35 years and has three sons. Born in Johannesburg, schooled at Marist Brothers Inanda and St. Charles Pietermaritzburg he was a paratrooper in SADF and the captain of the SA Parachuting Team which won the Bronze Medal in the World Championships. Author of “The Battle for Cassinga” and the novel “Osama’s Angel”, his career has ranged from TV News cameraman to national marketing manager of Peugeot and running his own design consultancy. His hobbies are opera, hunting and classical music.
