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