Publication: Noseweek Issued: Date: 2012-10-01 Reporter: Ron McGregor

Recovering Arms Deal cash futile

 

Publication 

Noseweek
Issue 157
Date 2012-10-01
Reporter Ron McGregor


Letters Correspondent
1st November 2012

Corruption soaks up lots of money. So did the Arms Deal, the World Cup stadiums and a host of other things – money that could have gone to upliftment of housing, health and education. Even with all the wastage, the government still has billions to spend on housing, health and education, yet what is achieved? Poorly built houses, and health and education systems that are a disgrace. Therefore, it’s not the amount of money that counts, it’s how effectively you spend it.

There is thus no point in recovering the Arms Deal money if it is simply going to be returned to the same people who misspent it in the first place. Regardless of how much money becomes available, ostriches won’t fly, apples won’t fall upwards, and governments without the right qualifications and attitude won’t ever be able to uplift their citizens.

Ron McGregor
Cape Town

With acknowledgement to Noseweek.


If it were possible, returning the equipment to the governments of the suppliers for a refund plus interest, would be very good.

Then the Treasury could allocate the necessary back to the DoD which could then purchase the right equipment with the right acquisition processes under the beady eyes of the Fourth Estate and Civic Society.

The DoD could ensure that not only the correct equipment was purchased , but that there were allocations for system support including ammunition, spares, fuel and training our of the Special Defence Account and not the SANDF service annual running budgets.

So it's actually not so futile.

But is it possible?

But other than the money, the crooked natural and corporate personae, especially the latter, should be sanctioned as severely as the laws allow: natural persons get a minimum of 15 years in the slammer with a daily ration of hypertension medication while juristic persons get blacklisted from any government contracts for a minimum of 20 years, plus a report to the OECD.


Quiz This Week

Why should juristic persons in general receive a longer sanction than natural persons?

Clearly the list of worthy donation recipients is too short to attract much interest in these competitions, so this week I'll add the Agulhas Clapper Lark and the Denham's Bustard, worthy recipients indeed in my view.