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THIS IS REALLY UNFAIR

31/01/2019 01:20:00 By vusi Kunene

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IT is unacceptable for government to always cry about the economic crisis for its failure in service delivery. I don’t understand this cry because this is not the first time we, as a country, have found ourselves in this problem. Not long ago we were in the same problem and found the country running cap in hand to even South Africa. Luckily or strategically the country was able to pull through.

Having experienced that, how then will we fall on the same trap once again, so soon? That is unacceptable and I will never forgive government for making people of this country suffer.

What troubles me more is that government continues to tell people that there is no money but at the same time it expects them to have it. If the economy is not performing well for government, then it should understand that the economy is not well for everyone.

To hike taxes and expect people to pay is unfair. To hike the price of accessing some government services when there is no money is unfair. Where does government expect people to get money when they do not have it? I know that this does not speak to the current Cabinet and Parliament but it is still the same government that raised taxes.

Maybe Cabinet and Parliament have to work on reversing the wrongs done by their predecessors. Before I forget, I recommend Cabinet for stalling increments.
For its failures to learn from its past mistakes, government is now making things hard for most people.

The Swaziland (Eswatini) Revenue Authority has been on people’s necks collecting every cent it can lay its hands on. It is good that they enforce the laws as our Parliament, which is not representing the interest of the ordinary people, passed the laws that the revenue authority is enforcing. But it is unfair for the authority to expect people to pay immediately and when time comes for it to give back the money to the people then it becomes a problem.

I forgot to take a proper receipt in South Africa for goods I had bought and uncompromising officers at the border told me to pay. I tried negotiating but that fell on deaf ears. I was told to pay and claim my money back once I brought the correct receipt. I was given a timeframe for submitting the correct receipt. I paid and a few days later had to go back to South Africa to get the correct receipt.

This was in November last year. But up to now I am still moving from pillar to post trying to get back the money that the officers had told me I would get immediately I submitted the correct receipt. If government, through its parastatal cannot allow me to pay later, I think they should also be quick in refunding me.

This does not happen only in parastatals but government, through its departments, does the same thing. Think about the bail money that is paid by suspects when they want to gain their freedom pending trial. The suspects are expected to pay immediately for them to gain their freedom. The suspects accumulate expenses trying to defend themselves and once they are acquitted, they go and claim their bail amounts.

What then follows is a nightmare for most of the suspects. I know of some people who have not been able to get their bail money for over two years now since they made the claims. These people have wasted resources trying to get back what is theirs and some have even passed on before they could get the money they paid to government. This is unfair because these people need the money as soon as they are made to pay it.

This does not end there but also goes to some of the services people pay for and government fails to deliver. What immediately comes to my mind is the money people are made to pay for government to plough their fields. I recommend government for such an initiative but it becomes unfair when government fails to keep its word on providing the service.

People paid for the service and government fails to deliver and further refuses to give back the money. We know that money kept in your name attracts some interest, is it then fair for government to collect all the interest for money they keep against the owners’ will? I have never heard of government giving back the money with some interest yet it had kept the money for a long time. This is totally not fair. If government expects it people to pay immediately, then it must also be prepared to refund people immediately. It must also know that people do not have money just like it does not have money.