Former African National Congress (ANC) treasurer-general and businessman Mathews Phosa has come up with a solution to the public waste by government – cut the size of the Cabinet to 15 and the number of provinces to five and drastically reduce municipalities.
Focus on service delivery
With a lean Cabinet, fewer provinces and reduced municipalities, the country would save millions in salaries and perks so as to increase expenditure on service delivery, Phosa said.
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“Given the challenges the country is facing, is it also not time the public must debate the issue of electing the president directly,” he asked.
Phosa, who was one of the drafters of SA’s constitution, said: “You can’t blame the constitution for corruption. It is the government that denies people their rights. It’s them who steal money for roads, hospitals and other services needed. The constitution is not a thief, it does not steal.
New Chapter 9 body
“The solution is to add a new Chapter 9 body called Independent Anti-Corruption Commission that will sit permanently to probe graft and also oversee the executive and other levels of the government at provincial and local government levels.
“The public protector is too overarching. This body must have teeth and clean up all this rot,” Phosa said.
He was adamant that the ANC must take full responsibility.
“We must act, now is the time.”
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