Zille advises victims of Satawu violence

Zille advises victims of Satawu violence

That is what service is all about!
Officials that give out information to the public willingly so in order to help them.
Very lacking in Council nowadays.

One usually gets a "I don't know" or "speak to .. at this number" or simply passing the buck, because they don't actually know how to help you or they make you look like an idiot for asking a "stupid" question in the first place. They have a weird way of twisting things. Probably comes from years of practice while reading the Newspaper and Playing games on the computer and not providing the public with a decent service.
That's of course if you can get through to the official as now they have Answering Machines.

Not all bad, but yes these situations do still exist in Council I am afraid.

Someone taking responsibility.
Go Madam Mayor Zille!

She seems to be the sort of mayor Cape Town desparatly needs.
I saw an interview with the Gauteng mayor the other day. Also seems to be quite good. CT has been getting the short end of the stick (in terms of mayors) for the last 10 years it seems. It is about time we got a good one

Just a pity that the ANC consider it their absolute mission to get rid of her. So much for democracy!

Incidentall, the Durban (eThekweni) Municipality looks pretty organised. They have one of the best city managers in Dr Michael Sutcliffe.

Tassidar said:

Just a pity that the ANC consider it their absolute mission to get rid of her. So much for democracy!

Incidentall, the Durban (eThekweni) Municipality looks pretty organised. They have one of the best city managers in Dr Michael Sutcliffe.

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That would be a sad day if that had to happen, but then they would need all the ID Councillors to vote with the ANC and one or two smaller parties as well.
A by-election in Tafelsig is being contested by the ID and the DA early next month.
This result will be the gauge of how the coloured people feel about De Lille.
Strange how quiet De Lille is nowadays.

I'm personally hoping that the DA will continue too do well in CPT.
They seem too be doing a much better job than the previous administration.

I'm hoping that we dont hear from De Lille for a while still too come.

BTTB,

The problem isn't so much on a local level, though with floor crossing and a couple of well-aimed incentives to ID councillors, who knows what might happen.

The problem lies more with the legislation regarding defective municipalities. The Municipal Systems Act (32 of 2000) Section 105 makes provision for the provincial monitoring of municipalities. Section 106 states "If an (sic) MEC has reason to believe that a municipality in the province cannot or does not fulfil a statutory obligation binding on that municipality or that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occured or is occuring in a municipality the MEC must ..... (b) if the MEC considers it necessary, designate a person or persons to investigate the matter"

I won't bore readers with the details but section 136 and 137 of the Municipal Finances Management Act (56 of 2003) also deal with provincial intervention.

With Rassool stating that it is the ANC's duty to try and unseat the DA, you might find provincial government looking for any loophole to intervene. In which case, the DA must be fully on its guard.

Public Participation

Hello Tassidar,

Welcome to MyADSL.
I see you joined yesterday. And a Capetonian as well.

Thanks for that info.
I am aware of the Municipal System Act of 2000, but not in detail like you have laid it out.
In my spare time I run the small Ratepayers Association in my area.
Basically I get the mail and if anything is of importance we take it further.

Since the ANC took over a few years ago our Ward has had no decent services. A Major Capital Project was shelved when the NNP walked over and gave control of the City to the ANC. The list goes on.
The Ratepayers have partaken in all the IDP Projects since 2000. I know as I sacrificed many hours sitting in meetings and workshops over this period.
And for all that we have asked and wished for, I can honestly say that all we have achieved is getting a few street signs erected and stop signs painted.

Perhaps I don't ask or moan enough, but I am also tired of being Mother Grundy to Council Officials.
There is a distinct lack of Public Participation in Local Government.
The Ward Committee that I am a member of doesn't cut it.
With R200K per annum divided up between 10 representatives and a Ward Councillor, is a joke.
We are just creating Wish Lists. The Officials also seems bored and just going through the motions, wasting for the time to announce the meeting closed and go home.

The Municipal System Act is supposed to entrench Public Participation.
Is this really happening?

Oops. I have gone off track there, but I see what you mean.
Provincial Government would be going into uncharted territory here.
Those are idle threats and have no substance IMHO.
I doubt Ebrahim Rasool would go that route?
Maybe if he had pressure from above, but as President Mbeki personally appointed him I don't think this is going to happen.
If he stated those things it was The ANC speaking and not him.
E R is going to be the Premier for some to come still.

BTTB,

The MSA specifies specifically that there must be community participation (chapter 4 covers this). Unfortunately, I am not a legal person, and do not know the full implications of the Act.

Unfortunately, our previous Municipality under the "inspired" leadership of Nomaindia Mfekto and the great Wallace, managed to accomplish the grand total of NOTHING IN PARTICULAR while in power.

Now if the leadership of the Muncipality consists of such incompetant people, then there is little hope for its efficient functioning.

In practice, there are many examples of Municipalities that work, and that actively seek to engage their stakeholders, even at much increased cost.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Durban Municipality was one such Municipality that does work. Attached is a link to a write up by them on their experiences.http://www.durban.gov.za/eThekwini/Municipality/policy/pubs/STRATBOO.PDF
We can only really hope that Zille does get a change to prove herself, as I have no doubt that she will rapidly transform the Cape Town Municipality. Unfortunately, I still maintain that the ANC is going to do everything in its power to stop her achieving her objectives.

The Municipal System Act is supposed to entrench Public Participation.Is this really happening?

Click to expand...

I think the answer to this question can be seen from the article at the beggining of this thread.

Hi Tassidar,

Thanks for that link.
131 pages. I will have to store for later consumption.
Looks interesting.

Another Municipality that functions properly is Knysna.
I have seen and heard good things about them.
They also have been innovative in bringing in a Wifi link which has been much spoken about within this forum.

Here in Cape Town, one of the biggest problems is the size of the Megacity/Unicity?
Although not impossible, it has proven to be a monster to control.
When we had separate Municipalities they could focus on smaller areas and provide better services.
One can question why they incorporated all the Municipalities into one?
I know the popular story, but in all earnest they needed the Rates from the richer areas like The South Peninsula to fund other less privileged areas.

The retrenchment of valuable and experienced staff by Wallace and Co was stupid and irrational. These officials could have been utilised to help out the new faces. I know of these people that will never go back now, even if Mayor Zille asked them.
The damage is done and they have their pride.
Some of them are now working on the outside helping with plans.

I can rattle on. So much in this head of mine.

Just hope there is enough of Madam Mayor Zille to go around.
She certainly has her hands full.

hello Tassidar and welcome

*Incidentall, the Durban (eThekweni) Municipality looks pretty organised. They have one of the best city managers in Dr Michael Sutcliffe.*

I surely must of mis-read this? Otherwise interesting posts thanx.

CacklinToad
__________

Scourge of the Corrupt

Is Durban very disorganised in your experience?