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.