It'll come.
I like the DA's strategy: Taking province by province - bit by bit.
The DA will win the Western Cape this election and then the entire country will see how a province can and should be governed.
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Are you keeping your Prime subscription?
Why i wouldn't vote DA
- Thread starter The_Pumpkin_King
- Start date
It'll come.
I like the DA's strategy: Taking province by province - bit by bit.
The DA will win the Western Cape this election and then the entire country will see how a province can and should be governed.
So you are not expecting any votes from other provinces other than WC?
Then the proDA ppl shouldn't blame other people for not voting for them in the next few elections in that case.
semiautomatix
Honorary Master
No, the DA is not expecting to win the majority of votes outside of the Western Cape, in this particular election. Gains will be made: a large opposition can still be formed in Gauteng, and some voices can still be voted in in the other provinces.
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
When the ANC complain about the DA, the DA replies in full and the ANC walk out of council:
In accordance with Council’s Rules of Order (Rule 22.1), the following questions were received from Cllr P Gabriel of the African National Congress:
(i) What number of days or periods of time has the Mayor been absent from City duty for the period November 2008 – 13 march 2009 in order to do election campaign work for her party?
(ii) Has the Mayor during this period applied for official leave for the above purpose?
(iii) Has the Mayor made use of any City resources when engaged in party political work during the above period and has she or her party made any payments to the City for the use of such resources?
(iv) Has the Mayor or her party, since she assumed office in 2006, made any payments to the City for the use of city resources for party political work?
(v) What is the total; amount paid to the City to date?
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
The Executive Mayor’s response to the questions received from Cllr P Gabriel in terms of Rule 22.1 was as follows:
“The ANC seems very worried about the impact on their own electoral prospects if I am allowed to travel outside Cape Town.
No other elected office-bearer, from the President, through Provincial Cabinets and down to Mayors of other towns and cities, is being pressured to restrict themselves only to the narrowest definition of their jobs in their specific sphere of governance. What is the ANC so afraid of? The ANC seems to have already conceded defeat in the Western Cape. Now they want to prevent me visiting other provinces, afraid that the opposition will erode their position in those provinces as well.
Firstly, let me remind the ANC that participating in elections is a democratic right for all South Africans, not just members of the ANC. Secondly, even while Cllr Gabriel’s political leader is not elected to any government office, he still costs the taxpayer’s well over a million rand a month in State resources just for his security detail. His legal defence, which will tragically and ironically have the impact of eroding the rule of law in South Africa, has so far reportedly cost the taxpayer R100-million. So Cllr Gabriel must not feign concern for taxpayers’ money with his attempt to restrict me to the boundaries of the City of Cape Town.
However, members will be interested to know that my Office keeps track of how much time I spend on City work to ensure that the ratepayers get value for money. It is not possible, in this calculation, to take into account all the time I spend preparing for meetings, answering emails and telephone calls, and talking to officials and residents.
However, using my diarised appointments as a guide, it is clear that the City is not being neglected.
During the period from 1 November 2008 to 13 March 2009 referred to in Cllr Gabriel’s question, I spent a total of 647 hours on official City of Cape Town business. This figure includes the sum total of:
- All appointments for City of Cape Town business
- travel time between appointments
- an additional average of 1 hour a day spent handling official city correspondence after and/or before hours, even though this is a very conservative estimate. I often put in four hours of work before arriving at work.
“The ANC seems very worried about the impact on their own electoral prospects if I am allowed to travel outside Cape Town.
No other elected office-bearer, from the President, through Provincial Cabinets and down to Mayors of other towns and cities, is being pressured to restrict themselves only to the narrowest definition of their jobs in their specific sphere of governance. What is the ANC so afraid of? The ANC seems to have already conceded defeat in the Western Cape. Now they want to prevent me visiting other provinces, afraid that the opposition will erode their position in those provinces as well.
Firstly, let me remind the ANC that participating in elections is a democratic right for all South Africans, not just members of the ANC. Secondly, even while Cllr Gabriel’s political leader is not elected to any government office, he still costs the taxpayer’s well over a million rand a month in State resources just for his security detail. His legal defence, which will tragically and ironically have the impact of eroding the rule of law in South Africa, has so far reportedly cost the taxpayer R100-million. So Cllr Gabriel must not feign concern for taxpayers’ money with his attempt to restrict me to the boundaries of the City of Cape Town.
However, members will be interested to know that my Office keeps track of how much time I spend on City work to ensure that the ratepayers get value for money. It is not possible, in this calculation, to take into account all the time I spend preparing for meetings, answering emails and telephone calls, and talking to officials and residents.
However, using my diarised appointments as a guide, it is clear that the City is not being neglected.
During the period from 1 November 2008 to 13 March 2009 referred to in Cllr Gabriel’s question, I spent a total of 647 hours on official City of Cape Town business. This figure includes the sum total of:
- All appointments for City of Cape Town business
- travel time between appointments
- an additional average of 1 hour a day spent handling official city correspondence after and/or before hours, even though this is a very conservative estimate. I often put in four hours of work before arriving at work.
Last edited:
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
Part 2:
Based on an official working month of 176 hours, and subtracting the 208 working hours that fall within the Council recess period from 5 December to 12 January, I was required to work 576 hours between 1 November 2008 and 13 March 2009 to meet the legal requirement of a full day’s work. During this period I therefore put in an additional 70 hours over and above the official time that I would have been legally required to work. I have not missed any official Council meetings but when I missed Mayco meetings (on two occasions), I applied for leave.
The Democratic Alliance does indeed pay the City for any resources used while engaged in Party business. The DA is invoiced by the City Of Cape Town for the use of an office in the Civic Centre, for mileage travelled to DA events in the mayoral vehicle and other expenses such as telephone usage. Since a DA meeting may take place near the venue for a City event, it is more practical to make use of one vehicle and for the City to charge the DA for that use.
The Democratic Alliance has paid an amount of R 80,975.81 to the City of Cape Town for the use of City resources. I realise that this reply will not stop the ANC from pursuing their double-standard that allows the ANC to abuse taxpayers’ money on electoral activities disguised as provincial jamborees or imbizos, or fly around in military aircraft, while insisting that the DA should pay for every kilometre travelled in the mayoral vehicle. However, I can assure Cllr Gabriel that Capetonians are getting value for money from a DA Mayor.
But let me return briefly to the first question raised by Cllr Gabriel. He asked me about campaigning in the elections as if this is somehow not in the best interests of the City of Cape Town. I beg to differ. Once we succeed in getting the ANC out of the Western Cape Provincial Government after the April 2009 elections, we will be able to further improve service delivery in the City of Cape Town by removing Provincial Government blockages. Since the Multiparty Government of Cape Town came to office, the ANC-led Province has undermined or blocked a number of key aspects of service delivery.
Ironically, at the same time, we have had (in the main) excellent co-operation from national government, even as the ANC in Province was undermining us. When the ANC provincially applied illegal and unconstitutional methods to bring us down, the national Minister had to stop them. When the ANC in Province was trying to remove 2010 World Cup in Cape Town from our purview, the national government co-operated with the City. The same can be said about public transport and many other issues.
Based on an official working month of 176 hours, and subtracting the 208 working hours that fall within the Council recess period from 5 December to 12 January, I was required to work 576 hours between 1 November 2008 and 13 March 2009 to meet the legal requirement of a full day’s work. During this period I therefore put in an additional 70 hours over and above the official time that I would have been legally required to work. I have not missed any official Council meetings but when I missed Mayco meetings (on two occasions), I applied for leave.
The Democratic Alliance does indeed pay the City for any resources used while engaged in Party business. The DA is invoiced by the City Of Cape Town for the use of an office in the Civic Centre, for mileage travelled to DA events in the mayoral vehicle and other expenses such as telephone usage. Since a DA meeting may take place near the venue for a City event, it is more practical to make use of one vehicle and for the City to charge the DA for that use.
The Democratic Alliance has paid an amount of R 80,975.81 to the City of Cape Town for the use of City resources. I realise that this reply will not stop the ANC from pursuing their double-standard that allows the ANC to abuse taxpayers’ money on electoral activities disguised as provincial jamborees or imbizos, or fly around in military aircraft, while insisting that the DA should pay for every kilometre travelled in the mayoral vehicle. However, I can assure Cllr Gabriel that Capetonians are getting value for money from a DA Mayor.
But let me return briefly to the first question raised by Cllr Gabriel. He asked me about campaigning in the elections as if this is somehow not in the best interests of the City of Cape Town. I beg to differ. Once we succeed in getting the ANC out of the Western Cape Provincial Government after the April 2009 elections, we will be able to further improve service delivery in the City of Cape Town by removing Provincial Government blockages. Since the Multiparty Government of Cape Town came to office, the ANC-led Province has undermined or blocked a number of key aspects of service delivery.
Ironically, at the same time, we have had (in the main) excellent co-operation from national government, even as the ANC in Province was undermining us. When the ANC provincially applied illegal and unconstitutional methods to bring us down, the national Minister had to stop them. When the ANC in Province was trying to remove 2010 World Cup in Cape Town from our purview, the national government co-operated with the City. The same can be said about public transport and many other issues.
Last edited:
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
Part 3:
In some cases this has simply been the result of poor governance.
But in others, for example the Erasmus Commission and former Local Government MEC Richard Dyantyi’s efforts to overthrow this Multi-Party Government by removing the Executive Mayoral system, it has been deliberate. One of the most important areas we will be able to address is housing delivery. Over the past three years the Provincial Government has held up a number of City housing projects with red tape, affecting a total of around 7000 units.
These include projects in Ocean View, Phoenix (to replace homes lost in the Manenberg Tornado), Nonquebela Phase 2, Masiphumelele Phase 4, Dido Valley (which was supposed to start in 2004 and now needs another EIA because the first one has lapsed), Bardale, Wallacedene 7 and 8, and Kuyasa in Khayelitsha and the Scottsdene Show Village. While most of these projects have finally moved forward, these delays could be avoided if the Province granted the City of Cape Town housing accreditation, which would transfer authority to approve housing projects and subsidies to the City.
With full accreditation the City would be able to approve housing projects in 2 to 3 months as compared to the current Provincial Housing Department’s time of 8 to 18 months. National Housing laws state that the Provincial MEC must grant local government housing accreditation if it meets certain basic criteria. We have met these criteria, and submitted a business plan to Province as far back as November 2006. The events that have followed since then have been scandalous considering the extent of the housing shortage in Cape Town. In 2007, the Provincial Department of Housing, under former MEC Richard Dyantyi, refused outright to grant accreditation, saying that it was not an ‘optimal’ solution.
We entered a formal intergovernmental dispute to resolve the matter. After nearly a year of ducking and diving we finally backed Province into a corner. As a way out, they informed us that our housing department would first have to be assessed by the Auditor-General to ensure it had adequate capacity.
The irony is rich, considering that the City received an unqualified audit while the Provincial housing department received a qualified audit. It is even more ironic when you consider that the Auditor-General found 60% of houses delivered by the PROVINCE had serious defects, 2200 subsidy allocations made by its Housing Department, worth R65 million, were given to people who did not qualify, and R16 million of the Department’s budget was unaccounted for. And they want to ask whether we have the competence to run housing.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
In some cases this has simply been the result of poor governance.
But in others, for example the Erasmus Commission and former Local Government MEC Richard Dyantyi’s efforts to overthrow this Multi-Party Government by removing the Executive Mayoral system, it has been deliberate. One of the most important areas we will be able to address is housing delivery. Over the past three years the Provincial Government has held up a number of City housing projects with red tape, affecting a total of around 7000 units.
These include projects in Ocean View, Phoenix (to replace homes lost in the Manenberg Tornado), Nonquebela Phase 2, Masiphumelele Phase 4, Dido Valley (which was supposed to start in 2004 and now needs another EIA because the first one has lapsed), Bardale, Wallacedene 7 and 8, and Kuyasa in Khayelitsha and the Scottsdene Show Village. While most of these projects have finally moved forward, these delays could be avoided if the Province granted the City of Cape Town housing accreditation, which would transfer authority to approve housing projects and subsidies to the City.
With full accreditation the City would be able to approve housing projects in 2 to 3 months as compared to the current Provincial Housing Department’s time of 8 to 18 months. National Housing laws state that the Provincial MEC must grant local government housing accreditation if it meets certain basic criteria. We have met these criteria, and submitted a business plan to Province as far back as November 2006. The events that have followed since then have been scandalous considering the extent of the housing shortage in Cape Town. In 2007, the Provincial Department of Housing, under former MEC Richard Dyantyi, refused outright to grant accreditation, saying that it was not an ‘optimal’ solution.
We entered a formal intergovernmental dispute to resolve the matter. After nearly a year of ducking and diving we finally backed Province into a corner. As a way out, they informed us that our housing department would first have to be assessed by the Auditor-General to ensure it had adequate capacity.
The irony is rich, considering that the City received an unqualified audit while the Provincial housing department received a qualified audit. It is even more ironic when you consider that the Auditor-General found 60% of houses delivered by the PROVINCE had serious defects, 2200 subsidy allocations made by its Housing Department, worth R65 million, were given to people who did not qualify, and R16 million of the Department’s budget was unaccounted for. And they want to ask whether we have the competence to run housing.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
Last edited:
semiautomatix
Honorary Master
Ask those questions of the African National Congress and they'll um and ah and state they can't give reliable figures. Surely the same thing should be asked of the Presidency, the highest office in the land?
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
20
Still, acting in good faith, we agreed to co-operate with Province in following this route. On 9 October 2007 Province wrote to the Office of the Auditor-General requesting that it assist with the issuing of a compliance certificate for the City Of Cape Town’s housing accreditation (level 1). Over seven months later, on 21 April 2008 the Auditor General wrote back saying “I have duly considered your request however I have to inform you that due to capacity constraints the A-G will not be able to perform the audit.”
We were also prevented by Province from getting a private auditor, because they wanted this to be done under the control of the Auditor-General, whose response was “I also do not have the capacity to contract out the audit to a private firm”. He could not do it and nor could he get anyone else to do it. Talk about Catch 22.
Nearly two months later, on 5 June 2008, the MEC for Local Government and Housing wrote to the City of Cape Town ‘confirming’ the granting of level 1 accreditation, but subject to: the Auditor-General conducting “an assessment of the City’s preparedness for Housing Accreditation and issue[ing] the necessary Compliance Certificate.”
Finally, on 4 February 2009, after repeated requests for action by the City, a meeting was held between the City, Province and the Auditor-General. Mr Holland of the Auditor-General’s office agreed that an assessment of the City’s capacity should be possible, and undertook to come back to us.
After another month, on 12 March, the Auditor-General then wrote to us saying: “the nature of the proposed assignment is not the primary constitutional function of the Auditor-General…and so [the office of the Auditor-General] will not be able to assist in any capacity with the housing accreditation process”. If this is not an intentional delaying tactic on the part of the Provincial Housing Department I don’t know what is.
It took 16 months to get this answer. We could have had a private auditor do the assessment right from the start if Province had allowed for this. But instead they decided to create more obstacles, bringing the total delay on housing accreditation to two years and 6 months. Perhaps the most outrageous thing of all is that Auditors-General in other Provinces have already granted such certificates to certain metros with far less capacity than the City of Cape Town. So why the exception in our case?
This is shameful, and when we take over the Provincial Government, we will put an end to the matter by granting Cape Town housing accreditation on an urgent basis.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
21
And I have no doubt that we will continue our co-operative governance relations with the more professional administrators in some national departments. We will also be able to do more about the shortage of suitable land for housing in the Eastern Metro region.
The Provincial Government holds over 434ha of vacant former Housing Board land in this area, enough to build between 30 000 and 40 000 units.
The National Housing Act states that former Housing Board land must be transferred to local government for housing development. But Province has refused to do this. Instead, it has started to sell the land to private developers. For example, in Blueberry Hill 75 ha was sold by Province for R18 million. Only 500 low cost units are planned for this project, which could accommodate 7000.
We can put a stop to this, and make the land available for housing. We can also stop the abuse of Cape Town by Province in relation to public transport. The Western Cape Department of Transport has failed on a number of occasions to transfer funds for City transport projects, even where it has signed agreements with the City to do so. In fact, the Province has not transferred any funding for public transport infrastructure since 2005/2006. R20 million that Province was supposed to transfer to the City for infrastructure upgrades along the Klipfontein Corridor has also not materialised, in spite of a signed agreement that this funding would be transferred in 2007/2008.
And there has been no contribution from the Province for safety and security at public transport interchanges for the past 6 years, since 2002/2003. Provincial contributions for 2010 transport projects are also still outstanding. Perhaps the most serious problem created for the City by Province, has been its inability to run the Operating Licence Board, which has resulted in about 10 000 unlicensed taxis operating in Cape Town. This, together with a total failure of law enforcement by Province, has surrendered Cape Town’s public transport to mob rule, factionalism and protection rackets for unlicensed taxi operators.
Most recently the Premier has shown a lack of leadership in response to taxi violence and intimidation. Her safety and security officials failed to arrive for a crucial planning meeting with City officials following threats of disruptions to the elections by taxi bosses.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
22
The Premier instead sat on the sidelines criticising me for my suggestion that the army could be called upon as a last resort to deal with taxi violence (although I see that in KZN the ANC thinks the army would be the right solution to deal with its political opponents in the IFP).
And I have also learned that the Provincial DG of Transport has been giving incorrect information to the taxi industry around their potential role in IRT (stating that their role is limited to feeder services, when this is not the case). The Province’s poor management of the taxi industry has put National and City 2010 public transport plans in jeopardy, and affects the safety of hundreds of thousands of commuters every day.
If we win the Western Cape, we will ensure that funds owed for public transport infrastructure and security are transferred to the City. And we will massively increase enforcement capacity to deal with taxis, while working with the City on enforcing more stringent laws to bring greater order to the industry. The Province’s level of co-operation with the City on dealing with other crises like drug abuse has also left plenty of room for improvement.
For example, instead of working with the City to shut down drug dens, the Provincial police unlawfully arrested me in Mitchells Plain. Provincial Police Commissioner also spread false allegations that I was associating with ‘terrorist’ organisations. This is unsurprising given that the leadership of SAPS in the Province consists of mainly of redeployed ANC-MK cadres who tend to be more interested in politics than policing.
Province has also stood in the way of the proper implementation of the National Drug Master Plan 2006 – 2011 (NDM). This is another area in which we have worked very well with the national government while being subverted by the Province. The National Drug Master Plan is designed to create a co-operative framework between National, Provincial and Local Governments.
The City has moved to fulfil its role as spelled out in Section 4.5.1 of the NDM, which stipulates that local government must set up Local Drug Action Committees (LDACs), and that these committees must comprise “people from all sectors involved in substance abuse and related problems”. It states further that “local government drives the LDACs in terms of establishment and functioning”. We have proceeded to set up LDACs, which allow community organisations to liaise with City officials, and, in turn, the City officials in the LDACs then liaise with Province: section 4.5.1 states “the local government official responsible for [each] LDAC liaises with the provincial co-ordinator of the Department of Social Development”.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
23
However, Province has tried to take over this function and has set up parallel structures which have created confusion and disorganisation. It has also failed to set up a functioning Provincial Substance Abuse Forum as it is supposed to in terms of Section 4.4 of the NDM. This has prevented the development of a functional intergovernmental system to fight drug abuse and trafficking in the region.
Instead, its Department of Social Development handed over its function to a body of individuals that seems to be nothing more than a group of cronies. It is not even a registered NPO or NGO.
The Department has transferred millions of rands to these individuals. We have received reports that the ‘chair’ of this body has been ‘awarded’ the contract to conduct ‘training’ for the Province’s own ‘local drug action committees’. The ‘treasurer’ of the body is an ANC councillor from the City of Cape Town. And funds that are supposed to be used for fighting drug abuse are instead being spent on clothes and other goodies for random distribution.
I can go on, but I think this answers the ANC’s question. I am not neglecting the interests of the City of Cape Town by campaigning against the ANC in the next elections. I am still putting in more than the number of hours for City work required in law. And I am actively trying to ensure that the Provincial Government is no longer abused to interfere with and undermine the City of Cape Town for the ANC’s narrow political interests.
I thank you.”
Still, acting in good faith, we agreed to co-operate with Province in following this route. On 9 October 2007 Province wrote to the Office of the Auditor-General requesting that it assist with the issuing of a compliance certificate for the City Of Cape Town’s housing accreditation (level 1). Over seven months later, on 21 April 2008 the Auditor General wrote back saying “I have duly considered your request however I have to inform you that due to capacity constraints the A-G will not be able to perform the audit.”
We were also prevented by Province from getting a private auditor, because they wanted this to be done under the control of the Auditor-General, whose response was “I also do not have the capacity to contract out the audit to a private firm”. He could not do it and nor could he get anyone else to do it. Talk about Catch 22.
Nearly two months later, on 5 June 2008, the MEC for Local Government and Housing wrote to the City of Cape Town ‘confirming’ the granting of level 1 accreditation, but subject to: the Auditor-General conducting “an assessment of the City’s preparedness for Housing Accreditation and issue[ing] the necessary Compliance Certificate.”
Finally, on 4 February 2009, after repeated requests for action by the City, a meeting was held between the City, Province and the Auditor-General. Mr Holland of the Auditor-General’s office agreed that an assessment of the City’s capacity should be possible, and undertook to come back to us.
After another month, on 12 March, the Auditor-General then wrote to us saying: “the nature of the proposed assignment is not the primary constitutional function of the Auditor-General…and so [the office of the Auditor-General] will not be able to assist in any capacity with the housing accreditation process”. If this is not an intentional delaying tactic on the part of the Provincial Housing Department I don’t know what is.
It took 16 months to get this answer. We could have had a private auditor do the assessment right from the start if Province had allowed for this. But instead they decided to create more obstacles, bringing the total delay on housing accreditation to two years and 6 months. Perhaps the most outrageous thing of all is that Auditors-General in other Provinces have already granted such certificates to certain metros with far less capacity than the City of Cape Town. So why the exception in our case?
This is shameful, and when we take over the Provincial Government, we will put an end to the matter by granting Cape Town housing accreditation on an urgent basis.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
21
And I have no doubt that we will continue our co-operative governance relations with the more professional administrators in some national departments. We will also be able to do more about the shortage of suitable land for housing in the Eastern Metro region.
The Provincial Government holds over 434ha of vacant former Housing Board land in this area, enough to build between 30 000 and 40 000 units.
The National Housing Act states that former Housing Board land must be transferred to local government for housing development. But Province has refused to do this. Instead, it has started to sell the land to private developers. For example, in Blueberry Hill 75 ha was sold by Province for R18 million. Only 500 low cost units are planned for this project, which could accommodate 7000.
We can put a stop to this, and make the land available for housing. We can also stop the abuse of Cape Town by Province in relation to public transport. The Western Cape Department of Transport has failed on a number of occasions to transfer funds for City transport projects, even where it has signed agreements with the City to do so. In fact, the Province has not transferred any funding for public transport infrastructure since 2005/2006. R20 million that Province was supposed to transfer to the City for infrastructure upgrades along the Klipfontein Corridor has also not materialised, in spite of a signed agreement that this funding would be transferred in 2007/2008.
And there has been no contribution from the Province for safety and security at public transport interchanges for the past 6 years, since 2002/2003. Provincial contributions for 2010 transport projects are also still outstanding. Perhaps the most serious problem created for the City by Province, has been its inability to run the Operating Licence Board, which has resulted in about 10 000 unlicensed taxis operating in Cape Town. This, together with a total failure of law enforcement by Province, has surrendered Cape Town’s public transport to mob rule, factionalism and protection rackets for unlicensed taxi operators.
Most recently the Premier has shown a lack of leadership in response to taxi violence and intimidation. Her safety and security officials failed to arrive for a crucial planning meeting with City officials following threats of disruptions to the elections by taxi bosses.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
22
The Premier instead sat on the sidelines criticising me for my suggestion that the army could be called upon as a last resort to deal with taxi violence (although I see that in KZN the ANC thinks the army would be the right solution to deal with its political opponents in the IFP).
And I have also learned that the Provincial DG of Transport has been giving incorrect information to the taxi industry around their potential role in IRT (stating that their role is limited to feeder services, when this is not the case). The Province’s poor management of the taxi industry has put National and City 2010 public transport plans in jeopardy, and affects the safety of hundreds of thousands of commuters every day.
If we win the Western Cape, we will ensure that funds owed for public transport infrastructure and security are transferred to the City. And we will massively increase enforcement capacity to deal with taxis, while working with the City on enforcing more stringent laws to bring greater order to the industry. The Province’s level of co-operation with the City on dealing with other crises like drug abuse has also left plenty of room for improvement.
For example, instead of working with the City to shut down drug dens, the Provincial police unlawfully arrested me in Mitchells Plain. Provincial Police Commissioner also spread false allegations that I was associating with ‘terrorist’ organisations. This is unsurprising given that the leadership of SAPS in the Province consists of mainly of redeployed ANC-MK cadres who tend to be more interested in politics than policing.
Province has also stood in the way of the proper implementation of the National Drug Master Plan 2006 – 2011 (NDM). This is another area in which we have worked very well with the national government while being subverted by the Province. The National Drug Master Plan is designed to create a co-operative framework between National, Provincial and Local Governments.
The City has moved to fulfil its role as spelled out in Section 4.5.1 of the NDM, which stipulates that local government must set up Local Drug Action Committees (LDACs), and that these committees must comprise “people from all sectors involved in substance abuse and related problems”. It states further that “local government drives the LDACs in terms of establishment and functioning”. We have proceeded to set up LDACs, which allow community organisations to liaise with City officials, and, in turn, the City officials in the LDACs then liaise with Province: section 4.5.1 states “the local government official responsible for [each] LDAC liaises with the provincial co-ordinator of the Department of Social Development”.
COUNCIL MINUTES 30 MARCH 2009
________________________________________________________________
23
However, Province has tried to take over this function and has set up parallel structures which have created confusion and disorganisation. It has also failed to set up a functioning Provincial Substance Abuse Forum as it is supposed to in terms of Section 4.4 of the NDM. This has prevented the development of a functional intergovernmental system to fight drug abuse and trafficking in the region.
Instead, its Department of Social Development handed over its function to a body of individuals that seems to be nothing more than a group of cronies. It is not even a registered NPO or NGO.
The Department has transferred millions of rands to these individuals. We have received reports that the ‘chair’ of this body has been ‘awarded’ the contract to conduct ‘training’ for the Province’s own ‘local drug action committees’. The ‘treasurer’ of the body is an ANC councillor from the City of Cape Town. And funds that are supposed to be used for fighting drug abuse are instead being spent on clothes and other goodies for random distribution.
I can go on, but I think this answers the ANC’s question. I am not neglecting the interests of the City of Cape Town by campaigning against the ANC in the next elections. I am still putting in more than the number of hours for City work required in law. And I am actively trying to ensure that the Provincial Government is no longer abused to interfere with and undermine the City of Cape Town for the ANC’s narrow political interests.
I thank you.”
Last edited:
semiautomatix
Honorary Master
This woman is legen... wait for it... dary. Legendary!
*fingers crossed* that the DA wins the province because then they will be able to show the country what a trully concerned party can do.
I can understand why the ANC walked out, they had no way to respond to these allegations because the DA had done their homework!
*fingers crossed* that the DA wins the province because then they will be able to show the country what a trully concerned party can do.
I can understand why the ANC walked out, they had no way to respond to these allegations because the DA had done their homework!
capetownguy
Expert Member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 0
During the Executive Mayor’s response to the questions, the ANC Caucus left the Chamber (12:00) and returned after her address. During this time the Speaker announced that the meeting was still quorate and could therefore proceed.
The DA will get votes from every province. However the DA will win the western cape and possibly two other provinces in this election.
The DA has been promoting their policies through pamphlets ect. I have received 4 of them that outlines the DA plan for this country. I have seen there plan of actions in all major newspapers as well.
Now the question is why try and stop ZUMA. Think about this carefully now. The DA wants to stop ZUMA because he is corrupt and under his precidency with a 2/3 majority there will soon be nothing left of this country.
Ask yourself this question do you really want an opposition that do not take on government for their poor decision making and raping of the constitution.
If I were not a DA supporter before I would have voted for them now just to support them in stopping the almighty ZUMA from getting the power that he wants to make himself the next mugabe.
chiskop
Executive Member
Do you always write Zuma in all caps? Is that DA policy? 
semiautomatix
Honorary Master
Hehehe, well then they have to live with it. Why ask a question if you don't want an answer. I hope these b*****ds lose all control of the province and have to sit back and watch a real party at work.
Actually Helen Zille will be in Limpopo on Sunday and Monday... See election update for this weekend on the times website.
TonyHawk
Expert Member
I'm so proud of Zille... I hope that racism diminishes and that black Africans will also one day be proud of how hard she works ….
Racism is only here if you want it to be… Don’t let the ANC keep it alive just to hold on to power… which itself is useless in their hands
3G-Spot
Well-Known Member
I'm so proud of Zille... I hope that racism diminishes and that black Africans will also one day be proud of how hard she works ….
Racism is only here if you want it to be… Don’t let the ANC keep it alive just to hold on to power… which itself is useless in their hands
Racism is slowly decreasing, people now use their own reasoning to evaluate a leader(party) instead of basing their votes on racial lines or history. The DA has more black africans than any other white-led party. I don't see the majority SA (black africans) doing the same though...hence the ANC will be in power for eons to come...they'll just be taking turns when deciding the next president
Isn't this exactly what has kept most anc's voters from voting for the DA? They've always pointed at white politicians saying they want to bring back apartheid.
The Da is doing kind of the same thing now, comparing the anc to zanu pf.
Most people dont have time to stop and THINK. That is why they have to use smart effective advertising that speaks to everyone..
chiskop
Executive Member
Considering that the only other "white" party is the FF+ that's not an overwhelming achievement.
TonyHawk
Expert Member
I hear the NP are back... with fights over ownership... nogal with muslims
http://www.nationalparty.co.za/
Will this also be called a white party?
http://www.nationalparty.co.za/
Will this also be called a white party?