Sucks being a Taxpayer in South Africa
This Eskom thing is way bigger than our "gripe" with Telkom and the reason this forum was formed.
Makes me think that here could be another case of a website called MyPower or MyKrag developing out of this story as it unfolds.
Maybe the current Eskom Topic
here needs an upgrade?
With our experience tackling the Behemoth of Telkom and all the ensuing revelations that were discovered as we went along from the time this forum started and thereafter it would not surprise that there is a vast amount of information we don't know that is being suppressed or withheld depending on what way you look at it in regards to Eskom and the way it conducts itself, at our expense.
Strange to me that in the past Capital for Eskom was likely (not sure, but it did not show on our accounts as such) acquired from Bond Raising and from Taxpayers, much like Telkom which was surely paid from our Taxes over time, the infrastructure that is. Why now must Eskom pay for Capacity expansion upfront out of Electricity Accounts when these are surely long term projects that stretch out for decades. Unless Government is trying to pay for other things under the guise of Eskom's misgivings? The other thing that puzzles me is the big difference between what Eskom charges Local Municipalities and what these Municipalities charge us in turn, which is more or less just doubling up. I suppose Municipalities need to cover their costs too, but to that extent and for a service that should be an essential commodity that carries no profit. It is well known that Local Municipalities need Electricity Revenues to fill their budgets and I think Electricity Revenue forms between 20 and 40%, the biggest slice of their Budgets, as Rates are regulated and cannot be increased to the extent that Eskom is doing.
To add, take this
47Billion Arms Deal Scandal. Wow! Would that money not be better utilised to pay off a Power Station or two, than more aircraft for the Air Force who do not even have pilots to fly them. But then one wonders why we need such big Transport Aircraft for other than sending "gesmokkelde" stuff wherever.
Big can of worms enveloping, all at the expense of the poor taxpayer.
Even SARS wants their pound of flesh out of the man on the street >
SARS bids to bridge R70bn tax shortfall
Everything points to a country which used to be cheap to live in becoming a k@k expensive place with crime running rampant as the poor get poorer and shift to other means to make a living.
There is no place to hide from this greedy Government. All this during one of the worst recessions in living memory. People are struggling to keep their heads above water, but Government seems oblivious to this fact. I suppose if you have a lekker job, a paid car, travel allowances, tea parties, diplomatic holidays all over the world as a Member of the South African Parliament you lose focus of the poor man on the street as his troubles seem unreal to your "paved" street.
