Umcebo Trust Comments on the 2009/10 Budget

As I watched Trevor Manual deliver his most recent budget speech, I tried looking at this budget through NGO glasses. That can essentially be explained as, once the very sound macro economic issues are established, how, if at all, will this impact on the poorest by improving their lives on a day-to-day basis.

When my crafters go to the local hospital, will they still be kept waiting a whole day and then given two Panados and sent home, after a very dodgy examination? Will they be safe walking to the local mini-bus stop, and not face muggers? When they report being mugged, will they be helped, and will the criminals be caught? Will a safe mini-bus arrive and transport them to their place of work? When they need an ID Book, will they be able to get one, and will it contain the right details? Will they be able to access Social Workers and Child Support Grants? Will they be able to source reasonably priced and healthy food?

I could carry on tracking the barrage of daily issues which my crafters face, and which impact on their daily lives, and ultimately, which insulate them from feeling the impact of macro level policies. In a nutshell, service delivery is the real issue. Without effective service delivery, the budget becomes a work of fiction for them.

Between Trevor Manual and the poor lies layer upon layer of people simply not doing their jobs. Their indifference is astounding. I recently called Home Affairs in Durban as we had a Zimbabwean refugee crafter who wanted to visit Home Affairs on a Saturday. I called them to find out their business hours. Not a difficult issue to deal with. I got through to the switchboard operator, who surprisingly enough, did not know the answer to this. She then put me through to a phone extension which rang endlessly, until I put the phone down. I then called her back, and she became very irritated and said that she assumes their hours of business were 'normal business hours', but that she was not sure. This kind of mindless indifference, and a total lack of interest in doing ones job, means that despite lofty budgets in parliament, the poor around me, and who I come into contact with, just seem to get endlessly poorer.

I do not regard this as 'Afro Pessimism', but see it as a fact of life currently if you attempt to interact with any Government agency. What would inspire and excite me is to see phones answered, social workers dispatched, people held accountable for not doing their jobs, or never being available, etc. If we can have some movement on these issues, then I think Trevor Manual's sound policies would translate into a better day, and ultimately a better standard of living for the poorest of the poor. Until then, vast sums of money will be allocated and either mismanaged, or ultimately not properly allocated, and even in some cases sent back to central Government. I hope that at some stage there is some kind of critical appraisal of the systems that manage the money allocated by the budget. Until those are made effective and managed by energetic, committed and hard working people, we will not see these budgets having the impact that they should.
As NGOs we see this each day, and so do the poorest, who we work with, and who we aim to help. Trevor Manual’s budgets need to filter through to the poor, and the only way they can do that is with effective service delivery, sooner rather than later.

Robin Opperman
Director
Umcebo Trust