It is especially unconscionable considering all the problems we have, some of which can be fixed with budgets government always claims not to have.
But it becomes more and more obvious to me how little politicians actually care about us.
Are they truly just involved in politics so they can pocket as much money as possible, for as little work as possible?
Last week we learned that nearly R12 million of our money is now in the bank accounts of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.
FAIL: Ex crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli
Neither of them are doing the jobs for which they were getting paid, as both are suspended.
So, plainly put, they were sitting on their hands at home while collecting fat salaries.
And this sort of thing seems to happen all the time; good-for-nothing public servants getting paid for being couch potatoes, or getting a golden handshake after only having done a few months’ work.
It’s like the public kitty has become an easy cash cow for some connected individuals.
I sometimes think they are given these jobs with the full knowledge that they don’t plan to stay, but instead will catch on as much crap as possible, so they can get suspended with full pay, which seems to be the coziest government job at the moment.
It has happened so often now, that if government was truly determined to stop it continuing, they would have their lawyers have a serious look at the employment contracts public servants sign.
Surely they can come up with a contract that is a lot tighter and that prevents people from using the public purse as a guaranteed lottery.
Instead of them getting all sorts of extra bits of cash for no apparent reason that requires actual work, such a contract should have performance-based bonuses.
It should also be clear about possible future suspension for suspected misconduct and how much of their salaries they will be eligible for in such a case.
I think most people would be more careful with their positions if they knew they could lose their fat pay cheques should they mess up.
At the moment, there’s no incentive to stay clean and do the job to the best of their abilities.
Not only can they get suspended with full pay, but they can challenge the suspension in court, also at our expense.
It has always bothered me that we pay so much money to people who would probably not make it into such senior jobs in the private sector.
But not only do we give them massive salaries, we also look after a lot of their expenses and see to their pension, so they can continue to be looked after, long after they have failed at their jobs.
I am most shocked by how these unscrupulous people who take so much from us, can live with themselves, knowing that their one salary could probably save hundreds of families from starvation.