SOWETAN | Rent defaulters – not really a surprise

The news we broke in this newspaper yesterday that civil servants in North West have been staying or, in some instances letting their relatives stay rent free in government-owned properties for years should come as no surprise to many, including us.

We reported that among the rent defaulters were senior government employees, some even heads of departments earning up to R1m per annum, meaning they no doubt have the means to pay the relatively measly rent asked of them.

Some of the properties are rented out for as little as R900 a month, with the highest rent being R4,576 – probably the bracket for top earners such as directors and heads of departments.

To have 1,500 people living or supposedly doing so while contributing not even a cent in rent or for the upkeep of the properties is unsustainable and no better than literally flushing money that could be spent better down the proverbial drain. 

North West MEC for human settlement Gaoage Oageng Molapisi said to Sowetan his department parts with between R780,000 and R1,5m a year paying for rates and services to municipalities for 350 such tenants in Sonop, a suburb in Brits, in the Madibeng municipality.

Now, dear reader, do the maths on what amount of taxpayers’ money is possibly being burnt each year for all 1,500 tenants. If your head is not spinning yet, try your hand at figuring out how much that would be for 18 years of free lodging by these public servants, among them people who should know better. The figure officially put down for rental debt is R71m. 

Our guess is as good as any as to whether the money will ever be recovered. Chances are that it won’t.

But again, to go back to our opening statement, pretty little remains to shock us as the culture of entitlement as is evidenced here has been allowed to take root by those holding even higher positions in government, especially political heads.

Not too long ago news broke of how the government made taxpayers foot a bill of nearly R7m since June 2019 for the installation of alternative power sources at the Pretoria homes of ministers and their deputies to insulate them from the blackouts. An additional R7,9m was also sought to provide the 'honourables’ with water and services. We guess the same would apply to similar residences in Cape Town.

Monkey see, monkey do. Is it any wonder state functionaries at local level do as their principals do?