Bend over, there’s more to come after the highway robbery

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Toll roads! If there’s any motorist who likes the idea, you’re on the wrong side of the fence of a mental institution.

We pay taxes so that roads, among other essential infrastructure can be built. When the roads are tolled, after being built with taxpayers hard-earned cash, that’s highway robbery.

But don’t expect politicians to pay heed or understand that; they’re really useless at generating wealth; just spectacular at expropriating it.

The initial toll proposals for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) up here on the Reef in South Africa, were greeted with derision and indeed howls of laughter. Did these morons in government actually think we the citizens were going to pay those absurd tolls for a road we had already paid, many times over?

After the citizens demanded a rethink by government, the new toll structure announced over the weekend are really no better. One government spokesperson had the audacity to speculate that the new proposal was fair to everyone.

That is everyone who stands to benefit from the tenders involved in the project, not to mention the grubby self-serving politicians themselves who are without doubt involved somehow.

Bastards!

This comes fresh on the heels of the announcement that government intends to tax us even further to sustain their latest hair-brained scheme known as National Health Insurance (NHI).

Yes folks, prepare to bend over after being robbed at a tollbooth, so that the swines’ in  government can reach up your ass and wrench out whatever is left, to pay for the health insurance you’re going to need after becoming destitute.

Public health is currently a cesspool of corruption and incompetence. We don’t need to feed this monster with any additional taxation so that it becomes bigger and more uncontrollable.

Taxpayers who are already overburdened by government extortion to fund their lavish lifestyles, feed those hungry tender machines, keep their cronies happy, and sustain those extravagant post-apartheid pipe dreams, should refuse to be treated as cash cows, and fight this tyranny with all they’ve got.

No more, please! Or we’re going to take this to the street…

My decision to vote again: Conclusion

Yes, I’ve done it – cast a vote again after 17 years of watching in dismay as the politicians slowly set about ruining the country.

Only now I’ve voted AGAINST the main culprits, the ANC. Somehow that feels so liberating. It’s probably not going to hurt the ANC, but it’s my way of telling them to fuck themselves.

There is a glimmer of hope from what I’ve seen thus far, that the party I voted for will turn things around. But it also hinges on many others also favoring them – hopefully enough votes of confidence in enough local councils across the country to give them the required majorities to run local government the way it should be.

However, I now also realize that my responsibility does not end with just voting. Now comes perhaps the most important part of democracy – holding the successful office bearers responsible and accountable for delivering the services for which we pay taxes. This will require a little diligence and some snooping around to find out what the elected councillors are NOT DOING. Then it’s a matter of exposing their failings and demanding redress, using whatever legal means available.

The candidate I voted for is in for a nasty ride should he win the election in my local district. I’m going to ensure that he understands that he is a civil servant and his candidacy means that I basically “own” him for his term of office. He’s going to know who’s paying his salary because I’m going to remind him frequently. He’s going to know that he’s expected to be a councillor from 9 to 5 every day, and not a part-time manager of a football team while he’s in office. He’s going to get phone calls even at night…when services are not delivered on time.

It’s time that we all made sure that elected officials know that they will not be getting fat on our watch. Let’s put them to work…