Blue light thugs

The Witness: "What we voted for"
24 Dec 2008

IT is not surprising that the charges against the blue-light thugs are being reduced. This is the new South Africa: you have to be physically mutilated or killed for any drastic measures to be taken. We know that the system in place is only for a certain sector or class of people. We are getting what we voted for. Fellow citizens, remember the blue-light saga, road carnage, muggings, rapes, theft, murders, drug trafficking, bribes, fraud and the basic abuse of the people who are paying the salaries of all those guilty parties when you cast your next vote. Remember who pays the salaries of all the people in power and who is working for whom. You can fire them with your vote.
RAJEN PHILLIPS
Pietermaritzburg

Blue light thug wins bail appeal

It is clear no justice will come of this case, judging by the latest developments in this case. We will be tortured and terrorised on our roads for as long as the ANC is running this country into the ground. The strange thing is that Beke Cele had the audacity to bar SA Roadlink bus service (and maybe he should have, but why not act against the Taxi operators and his blue light thugs? The mind just boggles!

The Witness:
19 Dec 2008
Ingrid Oellermann Alleged “blue light bully” Hlanganani Nxumalo (28), who is charged with shooting at a vehicle after it allegedly did not move over quickly enough on the N3 near Ashburton on November 15, will spend Christmas at home.Nxumalo, a member of the SAPS VIP Protection Unit and bodyguard of Social Welfare MEC Meshack Radebe, faces eight charges of attempted murder for allegedly causing an accident in which eight people were injured.Exactly one month after he was denied bail by Camperdown magistrate Thys Taljaard, he appealed the ruling in the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday.Judge Isaac Madondo found that Nxumalo met all the legal requirements to qualify for bail.He said the magistrate misdirected himself when he took into account the “public outcry” over the incident and the “so-called blue light gang of KZN”.Nxumalo’s advocate, Louis Barnard, and state advocate Denardo MacDonald agreed on R3 500 for bail.The judge ordered that Nxumalo not communicate or interfere with the state witnesses.The state conceded yesterday that it was wrong at the bail application in Camperdown to treat the case as one involving “schedule five” offences. This places an onus on an accused person to show that his release is in the interests of justice. Barnard said attempted murder only falls under schedule five if it involves the infliction of “grievous bodily harm”.He also submitted that Taljaard “erred” when he took into account the “antics and modus operandi of the so-called blue light gang of KZN” when considering the bail application.Barnard has also suggested that the case against Nxumalo does not seem to be very strong as far as the attempted murder charges are concerned. He said, “At the end of the day the state may well be left with a case of negligent discharge of a firearm and reckless or negligent driving but … not attempted murder”.

Continuing gravy train

The Witness: "Continuing gravy train"
18 Dec 2008
I WOULD like to respond to your article on the deputy mayor’s transport (The Witness, December 15). It does not come as a surprise to the taxpaying public that our money is being spent foolishly. I cannot understand why the municipality has to hire vehicles for any official business as it has enough of its own. Why are officials transported in such expensive cars anyway when people are struggling to make ends meet? The deputy mayor says that his car was damaged in a storm but he was not in the car at the time. What were the bodyguards doing in the car in Panorama Gardens if it was not on an official trip? I suppose bodyguards are also allowed to waste taxpayers’ money by having good times with official vehicles and should they get damaged then that is okay. I hope that those concerned were asked to pay for the excess on the damage to the vehicle as we citizens are tired of politicians who do not seem to want to hop off the gravy train.
ZILLAH FRANCIS
Eastwood, Pietermaritzburg

Can you believe it?

The Witness: "Waste of funds"
16 Dec 2008
The Editor MSUNDUZI Municipality ratepayers will have read with astonishment of the sums of money spent on providing official transport for Deputy Mayor Mervin Dirks over the past two years. In 2006 NPC 2 was damaged in some unspecified way in a storm at Panorama Gardens. Whether it was there legitimately is also unknown; it had not ferried the deputy mayor but had been taken by his bodyguards. Assuming, however, that it might have been hail damage that was sustained, the vehicle should surely have been fixed in a matter of weeks and the costs covered by insurance, with a replacement vehicle hired in the interim. Instead, some R700 000 has been spent over the past two years in hiring cars for Dirks at a cost of about R1 000 per day. Two weeks ago, the municipality took delivery of a new NPC 2, a Mercedes Benz C220, but the hire car has not yet been returned. What has happened to the previous NPC 2 remains a mystery.Hard-pressed ratepayers are surely due some explanation of what at the very best seems an extraordinarily casual use of official funds.

Too many photos

The Witness:
11 Dec 2008
J. Creeke PERHAPS the Msunduzi municipal manager, between photo-shoots, could now direct his innovative thinking to tackling the many more weighty issues about which members of the public have been rightly complaining.J. CREEKE, Hayfields, Pietermaritzburg

Comments: Post a Comment:



Posted by Deon Joubert on 13 Dec 2008
New ManagersWith two more managers appointed by Rob Haswell one would have hoped that maybe they will be doing Robs work - but alas, these appointments apperas to be another waste of taxpeayers money by the ANC. Why do Rob Haswells office not respond to my faxes, emails and letters of the last two years?
Posted by Neville on 11 Dec 2008
Municipal ManagerThe municipal manager is the joker in the pack so what else did you expect. You certainly don't expect him to attend to rate payer demands do you.
Posted by A NON E MOUSE on 11 Dec 2008
PHOTOSWow, I learn a new thing everyday,I had absolutly no idea that Haswell had "innovative thinking",not bad for a senior citizen. Keep it up Haswell and pleeeze stop hogging the cameras its just getting vulgar now.

Taxi Lawlessness

The Witness 28 Nov 2008 R. R. TURNER
WHY the big fuss and publicity given to the blue-light hooligans? Motorists have to contend daily with far more numerous and aggressive driving incidents from the thousands of taxis on our roads.At least the blue-light brigade usually stick to one lane. I regularly witness taxi drivers changing lanes without indicating, cutting in, driving on pavements, speeding through red traffic lights, doing U-turns, stopping anywhere and flashing their lights while driving less than a metre behind one. They are directly responsible for numerous fatal accidents.In London or New York they would not last one hour as taxi drivers before being pulled off the road permanently. Virtually no publicity is given to their behaviour. The blue-light drivers are no doubt recruited from their ranks and they know no better; so why pick on them?
Comments: [Post a Comment]


Posted by Deon Joubert on 27 Nov 2008
AGREETaxi owner Associations are ruling the roost in Pietermaritzburg. The Mayor and Rob Haswell approves of their behaviour. The Mkondeni Taxi Associations decided to use the entrance to Lynnfield Park as a taxi rank/toilet/trading without approval nor consultation with ratepayers whose suburb they are turning into a slum. Ratepayers have no say of what is happening next to their houses or in their suburbs anymore.Their desparate pleas have now been ignored for two years by Roba Haswell, the Mayor, and heads of departments. It is no wonder the population of KZN is decreasing. The coucil approves the illegal operation of taxi operators either because they fear them or more likely are getting a kickback.

InternAfrica: Municipality literacy shock

InternAfrica: Municipality literacy shock

One in three municipal councillors cannot read or write, and more lack basic competencies to run local government finances.Some councillors are even embarrassed to admit they do not understand English and are therefore unable to follow council proceedings or training sessions.It is recommended that adult education becomes a priority in all municipalities.On average, only half of local government politicians have post-matric qualifications, while only two out of 10 understand how tariffs are set or the cost implications of municipal services.And more than two-thirds of councillors - including those who serve on mayoral committees - don't understand their roles, their responsibilities or local government legislations.These facts are contained in a study by the SA Local Government Association (Salga).The depressing figures have been fingered as one of the main contributors of poor municipal service delivery, but also expose the legacy of apartheid in institutions of governance.The study - conducted since the 2006 local polls and completed late last year - evaluated 7 000 of the country's 9 300 councillors.Salga said 32 percent of councillors required ABET training."Without these skills (reading and writing) they may not fully develop their abilities and optimally contribute to council activities - especially when affairs of council are driven by agendas, reports submitted and minutes."The 32 percent of councillors who require ABET training should receive support as a matter of priority, particularly as this report shows councillors with higher levels of education stand a better chance to serve in senior positions, such as mayoral committees."Salga head of skills development Sifiso Mbatha said the illiterate councillors "don't understand local government issues", admitting the illiteracy rate in municipalities greatly contributed to poor service delivery.A number of councillors were not comfortable in conducting business or being trained in English."Some councillors are not comfortable in doing business in languages that are not their mother-tongues."But they keep quiet because they are embarrassed."This study has helped us a lot, together with the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) and the department of provincial and local government in terms of service delivery," said Mbatha."We need to take this (illiteracy) into consideration when we improve capacity for councillors, for them to understand what government is trying to do when it comes to service delivery."He defended the appalling literacy rate of councillors and pointed to the country's historical political system."We need to understand where we come from, because some of our councillors were in the struggle and did not have a chance to go to school. Their political parties have deployed them to municipalities."Not only councillors have problems, but also appointed officials."Mbatha said R32-million had been approved to train councillors and register some for ABET classes.Professor Enslin van Rooyen, an expert on local government at the University of Pretoria's School of Public Management and Administration, said the situation had dire consequences for municipalities."The practical implications are that if so many of them do not have proper reading and writing skills, then we can assume that councils end up approving budgets they can't interpret," he added. - Pretoria News
Posted by Africannabis at 8:44 AM
Labels: Migration, Service Delivery, WC Housing

Blue lights and leadership

The Witness: Blue lights and leadership
Added: 18 Nov 2008
There is an inspiring story involving the Danish king and queen set against the sombre background of Nazi-occupied Denmark.
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=16195

Maintenance-not imbizos

The Witness
Maintenance — not imbizos 24 Nov 2008
Cllr BILL LAMBERT The Democratic Alliance in Msunduzi strongly opposes the current imbizo, funded at ratepayers’ expense through a R2 million grant requested by the office of the mayor.While strongly committed to inclusive and consultative government, we believe that these imbizos are to provide the current ANC leadership with a party political platform in the run-up to next year’s election; and to do so at public expense. Residents who have attended previous meetings will know that they have only limited time to speak and that over the past three years they have seen little by way of action resulting from their input. Five Integrated Development Plan (IDP) public meetings were held in each of the previous three years. Now the number has been increased to seven and the cost to R2 million. Unlike the ANC mayor, many residents agree with the deputy mayor’s statement that the city is falling apart. They should, however, also inform the ANC that the responsibility for the decay in the water, sanitation and road systems is entirely to be placed at its own door. The ANC has run the city since 1996 and has for 12 years significantly under-funded provision for repairs and maintenance. The DA has supported previous budgets, but consistently warned of the dangers of not maintaining the city’s infrastructure. Now water pipes are bursting and where is the plan or the budget to fix them?Residents should invite the mayor to take a walk one day from the city hall down Chief Albert Luthuli Street, named after her famous grandfather. The broken gutters and pavements she will encounter within metres spell out very clearly where the city should be spending its money — and not on party political rallies.
Cllr BILL LAMBERT
Pietermaritzburg

Lacking Control

The Witness
Lacking control 14 Nov 2008
Cllr GLENN MCARTHUR COMPLAINTS about the lack of municipal service delivery pour in from political parties and the public. It has been said that the city is falling apart.No one has suggested that there has been no spending on new projects, that some areas were better served in the past or that other areas are being favoured now. The basic problem is the lack of management control. What is being questioned is how successfully work is being monitored in the new and old areas of the city.Instead of fobbing off or ignoring the public’s concerns, council management should acknowledge the role the public plays as their eyes and ears, drawing attention to areas in need of attention. A complaints hotline is useless unless it is properly monitored, with correspondence answered, reference numbers issued and implementation undertaken within reasonable time frames. If this does not happen, then there is a problem with basic management in our city.At the moment council resolutions seem to disappear off the radar and report-back structures are inadequate. Officials are not held accountable for implementation. The municipal manager seems to be uninformed about issues that have been outstanding for a period of more than six months and there does not seem to be a follow-up mechanism; nor does there seem to be any will, either managerial or political, to implement such a mechanism. Attendance at meetings and dealing with issues seem to be at the whim of the officials concerned, resulting in a lack of accountability and the build-up of backlogs, which are increasingly becoming unmanageable. Anyone can issue instructions. Good management, however, re-volves around monitoring those instructions and ensuring that those who are paid to do the work are held accountable. This is clearly lacking within the Msunduzi Municipality.
Comments:

Posted by neville jarman on 17 Nov 2008
Useless city managersLike Durban,Pietermaritzburg looks like one big garbage dump. Even someone with very little management skills could do better than Sutcliffe and Haswell are doing (or not doing, in this case). Perhaps they should be sent to Cape Town to spend a week with Helen Zille to see how their city mayor (a world mayoral winner) keeps things moving, clean and well organised. Cape Town is a world class city thanks to Zille and her unknown city manager. In Pmb and Durban we know who our managers are because they are infamously useless. They spend their time re-naming streets instead of focussing on service delivery. What credentials does Haswell have anyway to run a city? He was my geography lecturer at 'varsity. But i suppose all he needs - like Sutcliffe - is to carry an ANC membership card to qualify.

Posted by Deon Joubert on 15 Nov 2008
Municipal Manager IncompetentI do not believe that the Municipal Manager and his management team is uninformed about complaints from ratepayers. They just choose to ignore (and especially when complaints come from whites)the complaints (and it appears when complaints come from whites the council has been instructed to ignore such complaints)as they are totally incompetent to run this city. I am still waiting for replies to my letters,faxes, emails to Rob Haswell personally regarding the appalling situation in Lynnfield Park with the council approving an illegal taxi rank and vendors (no consultation with ratepayers)(not residents from Lynnfield Park)next to our houses. We have taxi operators who urinate and defecate in full view of the residents, wash their cars and leave heaps of rubbish and discarded food in the "rank" and surrounding areas. We are however paying Rob Haswells R1 million rand salary and this is the respect he shows ratepayers. Tell the public, Mr Haswell- why have you refused to address our complaints or refuse to reply to our letters since 2006? Is it a council decision based on race or are you scared of the taxi operators or maybe you can't read?

Address the Issues

COUNCILLOR Glenn McArthur is correct to hold the Msunduzi municipal manager accountable for failing to deal with the real reasons why this city is falling to pieces (The Witness, November 14).McArthur, together with the Ratepayers Association, has been trying to get the council to respond and deal with issues such as the implementation of a five-day-a-week clinic in Prestbury, the closing of public lanes in Prestbury, and implementation of basic services to the Peace Valley III informal settlement for a number of years now, without adequate response or success.Correspondence from many different organisations and individuals is simply not being dealt with and even councillors’ own resolutions to council, although approved in committee, are not being acted on by officials.As the person at the top of the tree, the municipal manager needs to take responsibility, lead by example and hold his officials accountable instead of trying to wriggle his way around the real issues at hand.
LESLEY OOSTERBROEK Secretary,
Zwartkop Valley Ratepayers Association
Pietermaritzburg


The Witness 20 November 2008

ANC proposes KZN Taxes to fund Political Parties

A bill proposing additional funding for political parties in the province was sneaked into the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature yesterday.If passed, the African National Congress in KZN would get an additional R10 million to fight the 2009 national election.

I Luv SA But ..: Election 2009: Make it count

I Luv SA But ..: Election 2009: Make it count

Pietermaritzburg Blue Light Killers:Eight injured in blue-light shooting accident

News - South Africa: Eight injured in blue-light shooting accident
Constable Hlanganani Nxumalo faces 8 counts of attempted murder after shooting out a wheel of a road user causing the car to swerve into incoming traffic and seriouslu injuring 8 persons. He forms part of the MEC for Social welfare's VIP Protection. The MEC has portrayed absolute arrogance about the incident and said its not his problem. That sums up the overall attitude of the ANC leaders today.

South Africa Sucks: Land invasion outside Pietermaritzburg

South Africa Sucks: Land invasion outside Pietermaritzburg
Rumour has it that there is a possibility that the Mayor was behind the land invasion to force land owners to sell their land for housing development. I wonder?

Mayor refuse to Congratulate Helen Zille

The Witness
The Mayor of Pietermaritzburg refused to congratulate Helen Zille on her well deserved world achievement but rushed to bestow her congratulations on Obama. Maybe a bit of jealousy from a person whose mayorship has often been seen as a disaster and not without controversy or is it purely racism?

Rob Haswell blames apartheid for collapsing city Infrastructure

The Witness
The Municipal Manager, Rob Haswell now blames apartheid for the collapsing infrastructure of the Capitol, Pietermaritzburg. Reminds me a bit of Alec Erwin with the "sabotage" saga at Koeberg. Amazing how these guys think South Africans are stupid.

Ratepayers paid for ANC Rally

Rob Haswell, the Municipal Manager for Pietermaritzburg saw it fit to use ratepayers money to approve R20 000 for the funeral of former manager of youth unit Sakhiseni Zondi. The ceremony had been used for political purposes by the ANC to rally support for the ANC by using the ANC Logo on the T-shirts purchased with the funeral money. Again the corruption in this council and its leaders,the ANC ,is just staggering. But then what example does the leader of the party set?

Daily News: Anyone for musical chairs?

Power play for R800 000 PMB city manager's job

How Rob Haswell landed the big one

More proof of cops using cop cars as taxis

More irrate PMB ratepayers are now coming forward about the blatent use of official vehicles as taxis and for other private business and still no response from the Municipal Manager, Rob Haswell. The acting Safety Manager thinks it all a joke. What a circus. NPC 3168 are mentioned in most complaints.

Cops now running taxi service in official vehicles

This is how rotten this council management is that even the cops,about whom the council and Rob Haswell , city manager, has been informed by the public,are using their official vehicles as taxis and charge for the ride. The response of Kenneth Chetty, acting safety manager displays exactly the idiots who we are paying with our hard earned money. To top it all these are the guys that get a fat bonus for not doing their jobs at Christmas time. I am still amazed that even the MEC for Local Government are not getting involved in the total mismanagement of the council. Maybe he is too busy lining his own pocket as well.
The Witness

City Manager appoint Manager in his office

Now the City Manager, Rob Haswell sees fit to appoint a manager to manage his office. I wonder what he will be doing - i guess not much more than he has been the last few years. The gravy train is steaming ahead and the city infrastructure is crumbling to pieces with rubbish and disease spreading at an alarming rate.
The Witness

How safe is PMB’s water?

The Witness

South Africa Sucks: Land invasion outside Pietermaritzburg

South Africa Sucks: Land invasion outside Pietermaritzburg

Censorbugbear reports...: Homecoming Revolution lies about SA crime epidemic

Censorbugbear reports...: Homecoming Revolution lies about SA crime epidemic

ANC alliance now destroying Durban

Now the ANC alliance are hell bent on destroying Durban. The ANC Government has lost total control over its members or are they supporting thes barbaric actions. A little word of warning to all soccer fans intending to attend the 2010 Fifa World Cup in SA - you are in for the nightmare of your life.

South Africa Sucks: Farm kids - hunger, foetal alcohol syndrome blamed on hatespeech?

South Africa Sucks: Farm kids - hunger, foetal alcohol syndrome blamed on hatespeech?

City of Choice

This is what the City states on its website.
"Welcome to the Msunduzi Municipality's official website. The city of Pietermaritzburg, situated in the Msunduzi Municipality, is the capital city of the Kwa-Zulu Natal province. Pietermaritzburg has come a long way from the quiet, colonial outpost it once was. Today, it is a modern South African city that is home to over 600 000 people of diverse cultures.
Pietermaritzburg is the "City of Choice" because:

we are only 45 minutes by road from Durban, Africa’s Busiest port;
we are one hour by air from Pietermaritzburg Airport to OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) ;
we are only 90 minutes from the central Drakensberg resorts ;
we are the new capital of South Africa’s most popular province, KwaZulu-Natal;
our city’s economy grew by an incredible 30% in 2003-2004 and continues to grow at an exceptional rate;
we are an educational centre of excellence;
we are home to great international events, such as the Comrades Marathon, the Duzi Marathon, the Midmar Mile, the Royal & Garden Show, Art & Cars in the Park and International cycling events;
here one can walk in the footsteps of Gandhi, Mandela and Paton, and many other truly great South Africans and
the generous and flexible incentives offered by the Municipality to investorsIt's simply because this is a great city in which to live, raise a family, and do business.Msunduzi Muncipality"

The following story published in the Witness on 17 September shows the harsh realities of living in this City of Filth with an exposed and crumbling infrastructure and a totally incompetent Council.

SABOTAGE
17 Sep 2008
Thando Mgaga and Nalini Naidoo

Municipal workers held Pietermaritzburg to ransom yesterday with an illegal strike that included sabotage, which affected the delivery of essential services and left some suburbs without water and electricity for most of yesterday and last night.

The Msunduzi Municipality secured an interdict from the Pietermaritzburg High Court late yesterday afternoon to stop workers from damaging municipal property. They plan to approach the labour courts today to halt the illegal strike. Criminal charges have been laid with the police.

The electricity blackouts affected the Pietermaritzburg CBD, suburbs such as Cleland, parts of Scottsville, Montrose, Prestbury and Hilton, while water outages affected many parts of the city.

Some areas were still without water and electricity yesterday evening. Electricity was cut at around 8.30 am and restored to some places after lunch time.

Most robots in the CBD weren’t working, resulting in traffic gridlocks without any relief as traffic officers took part in the strike in a show of solidarity.

The striking employees were described as aggressive as they barricaded entrances to the Msunduzi market, preventing buyers and agents from entering and leaving. There were allegations that some buyers were manhandled and told to leave the premises or face having their tyres punctured.

The tyres of municipal vehicles at the electricity department were slashed so they could not be used by technicians who wanted to restore power. Most departments operated with skeleton staff. Parks and recreation staff also downed tools and refuse collection came to a halt. Late in the afternoon, people who claimed they work for the municipality threw rubbish on Church Street near the A.S. Chetty Building and the Pietermaritzburg courts.

Earlier in the day, some employees in the electricity and fire department were locked in by the protesters and those who wanted to work were locked out. Strikers were also reported to have been “banging on doors”. Police were called to intervene at the electricity department in Doull Road where employees and residents were being intimidated by striking staff and the services of private security companies were engaged to protect those who were not striking.

The Witness established that the reasons for the strike have many facets, the main one being the demand for pay increases. Some sources within the municipality believe that the strike is aimed at ousting Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo; that it is a way to discredit her and to show that she is not in control. Others believe the strike was aimed at getting rid of senior officials. In earlier action, workers indicated they wanted strategic executive manager Phil Mashoko out.

However, more cynical staff members dismissed these theories, saying it was an ordinary strike for basic demands that was so badly handled that it got out of hand. They blame acting municipal manager Zwe Hulane and the mayor for closing all doors to negotiation and then presenting workers with an ultimatum.

This is like a red rag to a bull, said a worker, and a crisis waiting to happen.