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STOP BEING LAZY!

15/03/2019 07:55:00 By Martin Dlamini

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THE days of free money are over and it is encouraging to note that one MP comprehends this, but it is gravely worrying that a busload of his colleagues just don’t seem to get it.

MP Robert Magongo identified a huge waste of public funds and threatened to stall the approval of the budget to the Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Ministry until this leak had been plugged.

Good. That should register as HARD DECISION No. 1 from the MP.
What is encouraging to note is that he got off his backside to investigate and found that the taxpayer has been losing over E37 000 per month paying the suspended director of Youth Affairs for sitting at home doing nothing, despite being cleared of the offence he was suspended for. This has cost the taxpayer over E720 000! He waved the documents to show for it!

MP Magongo demonstrated what our MPs should be all about – oversight to ensure taxpayers’ funds are allocated and utilised properly by holding government to account. This, however, calls for MPs to be on their toes and do their homework to get the facts and figures in order to make contributions or submissions that are worth the salary we pay them.

MP Magongo’s submission reminds me of the days of Senator Walter Bennett, who would come to Parliament with a boot full of documents which he would menacingly wave at the sweating ministers. Sadly, this breed is almost as rare as the Northern White Rhino.

It is high time constituencies took equally hard decisions to demand more of their representatives in Parliament - several of whom have already displayed tendencies of being lazy. Standing up to pose questions that they could easily have obtained answers to, if they had bothered to do their homework, has got to be dismissed with the contempt it deserves. It’s as good as defrauding us! This indolent attitude was on display during the debate of the Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Ministry by the portfolio committee.

For the benefit of those who missed it, the minister was called upon to explain, among other things, how the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF) got to shortlist the 49 beneficiaries of the E3 million worth of loans approved for disbursement from this week without their knowledge. From the line of questioning, it was evident that their gripe had more to do with having no influence in the process which they could have used to leverage their status in the communities. They claim nobody had come to their constituencies to inform the youth about the fund. Others wanted to know why the youth fund was not operated like the Regional Development Fund (RDF).

They also labelled the minister’s first report to Parliament as substandard and warned that he should never submit one of such quality ever again. It is good that they have high standards or expectations, but they are highly hypocritical if they cannot meet the same standard or the expectation of the electorate in their submissions.

The MPs had simply not done their homework before the debate. If they had, they would have known that the youth fund was restructured and re-launched many moons ago. A new CEO was appointed and had its loan strategy professionally commercialised before applications were invited. What prevented the MPs from visiting the YERF offices to gather information that they could take back to their constituencies to share with their youth during their weekly meetings? Or log onto their website.

What research have they done to establish the success or failures of the previous youth fund structure that prompted government to change the model of funding in order to ensure that they advise their youth accordingly? Over E10 million went to waste as previous beneficiaries failed to repay the loans, but none of the MPs have come forward with a solution to helping the minister recover these monies from their voters. Would they dare?

Have they done their homework on the failures of the RDF prior to the changes that saw Micro-Projects being roped in? The answer is NO!
They also asked the minister why local football appears to have a life president. Really? Being in Parliament is not just about sitting allowances and sponsoring soccer tournaments. They conveniently forget that it is the very soccer tournaments that construct the structures responsible for electing the life presidents in our football. How is this now a problem for the minister to fix?

If MPs did their homework, they would know that interference in football by politicians or governments is frowned upon by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA). MPs should rather use the soccer tournaments to educate the voting teams about how a professionally administered football industry could develop this country and create employment for the youth.

We have one of the highest unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa, sitting at 42 per cent among the 15-35 age group. MPs should know that, but maybe not this lot.

Their job as MPs should go as far as developing policies that would create a conducive environment for business development and investment. Some will say these are early days and or new MPs have a lot to learn. This doesn’t hold water because we don’t pay them a lazy salary!