SOUTH AFRICA'S DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS - NO BANG FOR THE BUCK

In response to a parliamentary question, the ANC government confirmed that the country spends R3.2 billion annually on diplomatic missions around the world. It is difficult to visualize how many rand there are in R3.2 billion, and more difficult for politicians who are spending fortunes in taxpayer money. To put it in better perspective, some billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive, and some billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. So, with this in mind, do we really want to to be saddled with the exorbitant cost of maintaining 126 embassies - the highest number after the US. The answer, in economic terms, is a simple one - the country cannot afford it, and must cut its cloth accordingly. The money saved by reducing diplomatic missions can be directed to ever-increasing problems facing the country - housing, unemployment, poverty, crime, infrastructure, and a host of other chronic ills. There are those in government who argue that diplomatic missions serve as conduits for trade that result in benefits to South Africa, and therefore outweigh the cost of maintaining such missions. One has yet to see hard evidence in support thereof. Until then, the assertion has the apocryphal equivalent of a belief in the tooth fairy. Solutions for South Africa's problems are not to be found abroad, and certainly not within the plush interiors of diplomatic missions. From the ANC government's perspective there is a purpose in having an obscene number of diplomatic missions. They serve as depositories for appointed ambassadors who are "rewarded" for incompetence, scandal and wrongdoing. One suspects it will not be long before the next ambassadorial appointment is announced. Can you say, Riah Phiyega?