By Maya Fisher-French

When ANC Spokesperson Jackson Mthembu says there is nothing immoral or illegal or unconstitutional about Ministers spending hundreds of thousands of rands on hotel bills, he should be reminded of the quote by the Attorney General of France at the time of Louis XIV, before the French Revolution. ‘The country has been ruined, the peasants reduced to sleeping on straw, their furniture sold to pay taxes; so that to maintain luxury in Paris, millions of innocent persons…owing but their souls, because no means has been devised to sell these at auction’. The French Revolution was in in fact the revolution of the taxpayers who had been taxed literally to death and the funds squandered on luxuries spent by the leaders. Perhaps the monarchy believed there was nothing immoral or illegal in what they did and that it was their right, an entitlement in return for running the country. Unfortunately for them, those whose production they lived off, disagreed and the monarchy soon learnt that they truly only ruled at the behest of the people.

Certainly no one is encouraging a French Revolution in South Africa, but one of the biggest challenge facing taxpayers is the moral compass of government. There are departments who do an excellent job and we have a Treasury department that clearly recognises the fact that they are but custodians of taxpayers money. However there are also those that believe that they are entitled to use taxpayers funds to pay for unnecessary luxuries whilst many South Africans survive on the poverty line. As a Movement that is the challenge we hope to overcome by reminding those Ministers and public servants who abuse taxpayers money, that they are ultimately accountable to taxpayers and not their political organisations. It is also something we need to be reminding opposition parties who are paid by taxpayers yet waste time with infighting and internal politics rather than fulfing the role as a counter balance to a ruling party. Taxpayers are the reason we have a country, we are the only reason we have a government, so let our voice be heard.

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