Warwick Bruce Chapman

ANC supporters often plead with me that South Africa has come along way since 1994 under the ANC and we should recognise their contribution instead of focusing on the problems. One even reminded me that the ANC could’ve murdered us all if they wanted and suggested we should be thankful for that.

As a true liberal, I should laugh at such a comment, but in Africa, considering the post-colonial track record, I most certainly do appreciate the ANC for having taking reconciliation seriously.

However, as to recognising the contribution of the ANC since 1994, I struggle a little more. South Africa should have progressed further and improved the lives of more people than it has in the last 16 years.

The state of education in particular, is a travesty. Education is such a crucial issue to the empowerment of the poor and one which many young ANC members died fighting for. One cannot fathom why the ANC didn’t handle it in the world class manner it did Finance and SARS.

The poor management of the Department Health means facilities and human resources cannot cope with the burden of healthcare and, again, it is the poor ANC voter who suffers the most.

Then there’s service delivery, crime, land reform, agriculture, water and a hundred other areas which government is responsible for which have been poorly managed and are now not serving the country the way they should be.

The ANC was a most noble and historic organisation but its legacy as a liberator and moral compass of the world is being quickly replaced by that of just another a corrupt, inefficient and power abusing governing party.

Find below more photos of the abysmal state of toilets in Kwadabeka. These photos are supplied against the backdrop of the Toiletgate saga where the DA has been portrayed negatively despite providing far better toilets and enclosures than those depicted in the photos below.

Could we pull off the Olympics in Durban? Yes we could. Should we, however, is a different and more complex question. We’ve proven time and again that South Africa can play host to any sporting event and give its visitors the experience of their lives. I’d be happy to say that if there’s one thing we’re good at in South Africa its hosting sporting events.

But what about the things we haven’t proven ourselves to be very good at? Inevitably these areas of neglect are far less worthy in the eyes of the newsman than a glamorous sporting event. Quality education, fighting crime and corruption and providing for the basic needs of all South Africans are far more important to our future than hosting another glitzy sporting event.

Am I saying they’re mutually exclusive goals? No they may not be, but hosting the Olympics should not be to the detriment of those more important priorities. We must be shown that an Olympic Games in Durban will be profitable or at very least break even. A Games which soaks funds and resources away from our priority items is a games hosted by a Government keen to focus on the glitz and away from the tough, ugly reality that too many South Africans still call life.

The SWC has put Durban on the map and many picked it as the best host City of the games. South Africa, like Germany before it, was able to take advantage of the event to shed long standing negative perceptions about our country. It may be necessary to use the Olympics to the same end in 10 years time if Government does not focus its resources on the real priorities.

The liberated black majority remain poorly catered for by the Government. The sweet taste of freedom has been gradually bittered by the growing understanding that freedom alone, without the means to realise it, lives only in the heart. To give those people a chance to live a life of dignity and opportunity, Goverment needs to start working on those things its not good at.

As I councillor looking for the contact details of other councillors, I contacted the Chief Whip of Council, Fawzia Peer, and requested a full contact list. She declined saying she didn’t want to be distributing the full list of council details willy-nilly. Why on earth not?! I have since obtained the full list, and post it here:
eThekwini Councillors Information Updated 2009

I am becoming increasingly aware that most South Africans don’t full understand the structure of Government in South Africa and how our electoral system works. Below I have attempted to summarise this as best I can.

Government in South Africa comprises 3 separate but related spheres:

• Local Government = Municipalities and the elected Public Representatives (politicians) are councillors.
• Provincial Government = Provinces and the Public Representatives (politicians) are MPL’s (members of the provincial legislature)
• National Government = South African Government and the Public Representatives (politcians) are MP’s (Members of Parliament)

In Local Governments, half the councillors are directly elected to represent the people living in municipalities’s wards and the other half are “Proportional Representation” or PR councillors and are chosen by the party on the basis of the % the political party won. Thus there are twice as many councillors as there are wards in a municipality. Usually PR councillors are “deployed” to shadow the ward councillor in another ward with a view to winning the voters of that ward over in the next election.

Only in Local Government is any politician elected directly – ie. you vote for a person. In the rest of the spheres the political parties choose who will be appointed.

Thus, if a politician must be replaced in the Provincial or National spheres, the party just replaces them.

In the local sphere however, because ward councillors are directly elected, a by-election must take to allow the community to elect a new person to represent their community.

All SA reps are elected for 5 year terms.