Sue the South African Government?

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BradDC

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Just a theoretical question, would it be possible to create a class action suit against the South African Government for lack of service delivery to its citizens.

The budget and financial planning are well thought out ( http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/budget/2007/review/default.htm ), but when it comes to the actual crunch of getting the job done, the government departments are failing miserably, municipalities are bankrupting themselves by buying luxury cars...

Medical, Transport, Education have basically failed and if they dont get back up on their feet the wave will hit the next generation of people growing up in SA if it already hasnt.

Is it possible to sue your own government? Make them snap into sense?
 
BradDC said:
Just a theoretical question, would it be possible to create a class action suit against the South African Government for lack of service delivery to its citizens.

The budget and financial planning are well thought out ( http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/budget/2007/review/default.htm ), but when it comes to the actual crunch of getting the job done, the government departments are failing miserably, municipalities are bankrupting themselves by buying luxury cars...

Medical, Transport, Education have basically failed and if they dont get back up on their feet the wave will hit the next generation of people growing up in SA if it already hasnt.

Is it possible to sue your own government? Make them snap into sense?
Click to expand...


I imagine it would be very difficult to prove. Contrary to what some people would like to believe, they've achieved quite a bit. No i'mnot mad, neither am i blind though.

*Me waits for the usual suspects to come out with guns blazing*:D
 
Jozi101 said:
I imagine it would be very difficult to prove. Contrary to what some people would like to believe, they've achieved quite a bit. No i'mnot mad, neither am i blind though.

*Me waits for the usual suspects to come out with guns blazing*:D
Click to expand...

For once I agree : They have achieved a lot.

However, while you think they achieved success, I think they achieved dismal failure.
 
Yeah it would be an interesting case but I don't know how cool I'd feel paying for the legal fees of the person I'm suing.
 
If foreign victims of violent crime here were to sue I'd support that cause. Does anyone know if you sign a waiver when you enter as a foreigner exempting the government from damages & theft ala those parking lot warnings?
 
Jozi101 said:
I imagine it would be very difficult to prove. Contrary to what some people would like to believe, they've achieved quite a bit. No i'mnot mad, neither am i blind though.

*Me waits for the usual suspects to come out with guns blazing*:D
Click to expand...

You must be insane :D Oh by the way I enjoyed having no electrcity once again last night. :p hope I can sue someone if my PC ever goes bang from all these abnormal shutdowns.
 
Fudzy said:
If foreign victims of violent crime here were to sue I'd support that cause. Does anyone know if you sign a waiver when you enter as a foreigner exempting the government from damages & theft ala those parking lot warnings?
Click to expand...

That is an interesting position. You would support foreign victims... what about locals?
 
The government should have at least been able to keep up the existing infrastructure. Not let the existing infrastructure decay to nothing while uplifting the previously disadvantaged unsuccessfully. I'm sure a lot of people have electricity now, who did not have anything legal back when, but these people still sit in the same boat as before '94. They still have the same problems surviving.

Is there a easy answer for all the problems? No. Does the government do everything they are able to? Do they spend the budget to its full, and effectively? How much money is wasted on pointless exercises?

Personally I feel that the government has done a lot of new initiatives, but in the same time failed to look after that infrastructure they already have. If they can't look after the current infrastructure, while expanding to new areas, how do they propose to maintain and upgrade everything when all is in place?
 
Water off a Duck's Back for Politicians I am afraid.
One needs to somehow make them joint and severally financially responsible if they mess up. I heard once that this was going to happen at Local Government Level, but I have yet to see it and seeing is believing.
It would be difficult to prove these sorts of issues as Government is not run like let's say a Private Listed Company. What I mean is this. A Listed Company is owned by it's shareholders and for all intense and purposes we the public are the shareholders of South Africa and like a Listed Company if The CEO and The Managers are not shaking a leg, like some of our Ministers, they are shown the door and in some cases may be liable. But at least the onus within a Private Company is in the direction of more open reporting to those Shareholders which is lacking in most Government's and ours is no exception.
 
Fudzy said:
If foreign victims of violent crime here were to sue I'd support that cause. Does anyone know if you sign a waiver when you enter as a foreigner exempting the government from damages & theft ala those parking lot warnings?
Click to expand...

If it was the government that was stealing from them, you'd have a point.
 
Run the country like a Business. Period.
 
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