Guard injured in robbery

A security guard responding to a house robbery was shot and seriously hurt in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

Senior Superintendent Henry Budhram said the police received a report of a shooting at French Road in Pelham at 9.30am.

The Witness

The Witness: "Lack of maintenance"

Lack of maintenance

The Witness: "Lack of maintenance"
THE statement by the municipal electricity department that it inherited aging infrastructure needs questioning.

If it was old and frail when inherited, just what has been done in the past 15 years to rejuvenate it? From where we sit (usually in the dark) it seems that the only action taken was to allow massive developement, but with no corresponding system expansion, let alone upgrading the existing network.

As for the lack of engineers, perhaps we should try a recruitment drive in Australia, Britain and all the other countries the engineers moved to when affirmative action kicked in.

S. HARLING
Bishopstowe

Wreckage of affirmative action

The Witness: "Wreckage of affirmative action"
AFFIRMATIVE action at any cost is wreaking havoc with all sectors of Msunduzi Municipality and Phil Mashoko seems surprised that qualified engineers and other qualified staff don’t apply for jobs with the council.

They know that they can never get to the top if they are white, unless they are African National Congress supporters. How many qualified white electricians were given packages in order to make way for affirmative action appointments? I personally know of quite a few. Their lives were made miserable until they eventually took their packages, even though they would rather have stayed until reaching pensionable age.

A. D. WITHEY
Pietermaritzburg

Power supply

The Witness: "Power supply"
Power supply
19 May 2009


THE ongoing woes of city residents, afflicted by failure after failure in their electricity supply, is, one hopes, not a foretaste of wider breakdowns.

While a shortage of electricians is a widespread phenomenon following the collapse of the old apprenticeship sytem, consumers are unlikely to buy the excuse that the current administration inherited a “poorly maintained network”. The network was not “always poorly maintained”. It is now, that crisis management has become a substitute for routine maintenance and upgrading.

The city fathers and senior municipal management cannot escape censure for the current parlous state of the electicity network. A regular and reliable supply of electricity is the very lifeblood of the city and must be prioritised as such. What shall it profit to build new roads here or new houses there if the entire municipal economy collapses due to the lack of electricity?

One cannot operate on good intentions. What is needed is good management and the maintenance of the electricity supply, whatever it might cost in terms of new equipment or paying competitive salaries to acquire good staff.

The Editor
The Witness

Municipality's unpaid bills are delaying refuse collection

The Witness: "Municipality's unpaid bills are delaying refuse collection"

THE Msunduzi Municipality’s failure to settle their petrol and diesel accounts on time resulted in the disruption of basic services such as refuse collection in some parts of the city yesterday.

The Witness has learnt that the fleet management division tasked with the payment of these accounts failed to pay them on time. Some municipal vehicles and refuse trucks could not perform their duties as their petrol and diesel tanks were empty.

Sources who requested anonymity told The Witness that municipal staff were given strict instructions not to reveal the reasons behind the late removal of household refuse.

Mugging: samaritan steps in to stop men attacking St Charles teacher

The Witness: "Mugging: samaritan steps in to stop men attacking St Charles teacher"
A PRIVATE school teacher is nursing his wounds after he was attacked by muggers who wanted his running shoes while he was jogging in Oribi. St Charles College grade six teacher Shaun Mayo suffered a fractured upper jaw, a broken nose and a bruise to the back of his head — but if it wasn’t for a good samaritan, things might have been worse.

Woman shot during botched hijacking

Mercury: "Woman shot during botched hijacking"
By Mercury reporter

A woman was shot and wounded in her hand during a botched hijacking in Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday night.

34 drunk drivers caught

The Witness: "34 drunk drivers caught"
THIRTY-FOUR drivers were arrested for drinking and driving during a roving roadblock conducted by the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) in the Pietermaritzburg CBD over the weekend.

Transport spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu said eight of the drivers were minibus taxi drivers and will all appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court today.

No skills, no power in PMB

The Witness: "No skills, no power in PMB"
A LIMITED budget, inheriting a poorly maintained network and a critical shortage of skilled engineers have been cited as the main reasons behind Msunduzi Municipality’s inconsistent electricity supply.

As residents battle with erratic blackouts, deputy municipal manager for infrastructure, services and facilities Phil Mashoko says the skills shortage has had an adverse effect on the municipality’s electricity department.In 1998, the municipality had nine qualified engineers at their disposal. Today there’s only one.

Nowhere does he mention the employment policies(affirmative action) nor the total incompetence and illiteracy of the staff in general or the people making decisions(including himself) in the council. The ANC Council was also solely responsible for the lack of maintenance of the system , like with everything else in Pietermaritzburg. The ANC was to eager too eager to waste money on calenders, posters, name changes and getting rid of qualified white staff. Now that the shit hit the fan , they suddenly realise you cannot just live for today - what the ratepayers have been telling them for the last 15 years.

Dusi Canoe Marathon

Cape Argus: "Murky truth about the Dusi"
Pietermaritzburg's municipal authorities and the department of water affairs and forestry (DWAF) are not coming clean on the city's sewer system failures that have resulted in vast amounts of raw sewage spilling into the Msunduzi River.

This is revealed in documents leaked to the Sunday Tribune, including results of water quality monitoring by Umgeni Water and associated correspondence in the wake of the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon.

Outsourced Municipal Debt Collectors Profit From The Poor, Pietermaritzburg. : IMC-SA

Outsourced Municipal Debt Collectors Profit From The Poor, Pietermaritzburg. : IMC-SA: "Outsourced Municipal Debt Collectors Profit From The Poor, Pietermaritzburg."
The Eastwood Community Forum is extremely disturbed regarding The Witness
exposé on ANC luminaries who were awarded the lucrative Msunduzi municipal
debt collection contract as directors within the two municipal debt
collection consortia: MV Municipal Credit Management Consortium and
Bambanani Joint Venture [The Witness: Cashing in on council debt, dated 13
September].

Outrage over lucrative tender

Mercury: "Outrage over lucrative tender"
Opposition political parties have reacted with shock to news that the disgraced former head of the agriculture and environmental affairs department, Jabulani Mjwara, could be awarded a multimillion-rand contract by the Msunduzi Municipality.

Mjwara left the agriculture department last year after a damning report into the mismanagement of finances which cost taxpayers well over R120-million.

Taxi driver hijacked, beaten, dumped

The Witness: "Taxi driver hijacked, beaten, dumped"

Caught on camera, the bold crook who stole a car

The Witness: "Caught on camera, the bold crook who stole a car"
CAMERA footage at a local car dealership shows how a man simply walked into their yard and drove out in a car worth R250 000 yesterday afternoon — no paperwork, no payment.

News - South Africa: Teenager jailed for rape

News - South Africa: Teenager jailed for rape: "Teenager jailed for rape"
A 16-year-old Howick rapist was jailed for 15 years by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to three rapes.

Roads to business closed

The roads to Polly Shorts business area was closed today till 11h30 by our very brilliant Council for a fun run, thus preventing Employers and workers alike to reach their place of work. No notice were given to employers about the road closure. This in times of businesses running out of options to survive the economic climate and the record unemployment rate.

When I phoned the Traffic Department they were blisfully unaware that the roads were closed, but after 5 minutes of phoning around they managed to established that somebody allow a fun run to take place and preventing businesses in the Polly Shorts area to trade.

We had previously complained to the very same traffic Department for its indiscriminate closure of roads and were promised it is a serious matter which should be investigated. Well, what did they investigate? Did they all unanimously decided they don't need our business in pietermaritzburg and they would make business operation for small business as difficult as possible and thereby send more small business out of business.

This coucil is proof that the living dead is employed by it but complaining to the Municipal Manager or the Mayor is like flogging a dead horse. They are just interested in the millions they rake in for themselves every year and a attitude of f...the ratepayers and business (unless offcourse it appears, if you are prepared to do a bit on the side in their favour).

Anyone who choose to have a fun run before considering businesses and their current situation must be stark raving mad.

"When will electricity be fixed?"

The Witness: "When will electricity be fixed?"

RESIDENTS in and around the Hilton area suffered further power outages on Tuesday when a secondary transformer at the Crossways sub-station burnt out once again.

Arrogant disdain

The Witness: "Arrogant disdain"
I REFER to the claim by film director Andrew Strackham (The Witness, April 30) that notification of road closure had been circulated to residents in Roberts Road: what rubbish.

Traffic volumes in Roberts Road are phenomenal at the best of times and this street is not used only by local residents, but serves as an access route into town for a vast number of people, including many from Hilton, Howick and Merrivale. Bear in mind that many parents first take their children to the numerous schools in the vicinity before proceeding to work.

The total apathy by the municipality in notifying the public timeously and planning appropriately, shows a complete disregard for the public and is further proof of its arrogance.
CLIFF WIGGILL

Not a lot to ask

The Witness: "Not a lot to ask"
THERE is one thing the city manager and other officials do not seem to realise — they are paid handsome salaries to manage this city.

Farmer’s killers get life terms

The Witness: "Farmer’s killers get life terms"
Two casual workers who murdered Cramond farmer Ezrah Podolski, and assaulted and robbed Podolski’s wife, Miriam, and the couple’s domestic worker, Gloria Ngidi, on September 5, 2006, were each jailed for life plus 20 years by high court Judge Gregory Kruger.

Kruger commented during the sentencing that the minimum sentences were promulgated with the aim of helping to reduce crimes of this nature. This clearly has not happened since the jails are “overflowing”, he said.