Warwick Bruce Chapman

The eThekwini Municipality is simply not doing enough to stem asset losses due to cable theft. As I have explained before to this council, Cape Town has managed, through a well-resourced metals theft combating unit, strict enforcement, and now this initiative to reduce asset losses due to cable theft to a fraction of what it used to be.

There is no reason whatsoever why we should not be reproducing these successes in eThekwini. We are simply not interested in taking this issue seriously enough to muster the political will required to take the measures which have been shown to work in other parts of the country.

This proposal is quite simple. Given the extent of cable theft in our Metro, it is many orders more cost-effective to leave lights in certain high-theft areas on 24 hours to lower the risk of theft, than it is to replace that length of cable.

We can no longer sit back and do nothing about this economic growth sapping crime. I urge you to support this and any other initiatives which seek to reduce cable theft.

I have it on good authority (via SADTU member) that the message reproduced verbatim below was sent to SADTU members today via SMS:

Comrades, total shutdown of schools continues tomorrow (Monday - 16 Aug 2010). The ff. program must be implemented:
1) Intensify the closing down of former model c and private school.
2) All Regions have rejected the offer of 7% and R700 housing subsidy.
3) The program that will be followed going forward will be tabled and engaged at the Branch Chairs and Secretaries Forum that will be held at Regional Office at 14:00 tomorrow (16 Aug).
4) All SADTU members are expected to partake in the total shutdown program. We will meet @ Ptn Library @ 7H30.
Branch Secretary

I have notified the Pinetown SAPS and Metro Police and requested they protect the schools from being closed down. Please let as many people as you can know, especially those in the targeted schools.

Cllr Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094

The ANC chose to vote down two DA proposals which had won the support of the MF, IFP and other mintor parties that seeked to urgently intervene in resolving dangerous safety concerns which affect the lives of eThekwini residents.

“Death Road”
Cllrs Macpherson and De Boer proposed a motion which would have seen urgent measures taken place to improve the safety of “Death Road” on the M4 Ruth First highway between Broadway and Virginia in Durban North. The proposal suggested barriers be installed to separate the lanes and Metro Police establish a permanent unit to monitor that road. The ANC dismissed the motion with contempt suggesting the proposers were not following protocol despite the numerous efforts by councillors with City officials to see action taken.

The Deputy Mayor went as far as suggesting the DA Cllrs were trying to further protect their “leafy suburbs” while other parts of the City were in a significantly worse condition. DA Cllr Heinz De Boer clarified that “if the Mayor chooses to admit other parts of the City are in a poor state, that is his prerogative and shows up the lack of action by the City and councillors in those area, but as the Councillors responsible for Durban North and Umhlanga, we are doing our jobs as demanded by our communities.”

“Street Lights”
Also dispatched with a stunning display of arrogance and personal attacks was the motion proposed by Cllrs Chapman and Lindsay seeking that a task team be setup comprising councillors and officials from the Metro Electricity Department to urgently address the high number of faulty street lights in the City. Lindsay contended that despite 6 months of trying to get the Electricity department to fix over 200 faulty lights in the Pinetown New Germany area, little or no action had been taken.

Chapman explained that with the FIFA World Cup coming up and noting the serious impact that poor lighting has on crime, the DA wished to see councillors working together with Electricity Department officials to resolve urgent lighting and safety issues ahead of the big event. Again the ANC, through Cllr Reddy, used protocol as their excuse to sideline this constructive proposal.

Chapman, referring to the treatment of both proposals, said that “the ANC chose cheap politics over urgently needed service delivery in what is indicative of the attitude which has seen the gradual decline in support for the ruling party and spawned service delivery protests all over the country.”

– Warwick Chapman (Cllr Ward 18) | 083 7797 094 | ward18@ethekwini.org | http://warwickchapman.com

In a letter written from the Department of Correctional Services to the Human Rights Commission apologising for the claims made by the head of the Westville Prison, the Department states that Mr Mabanga “could not provide any tangible information or documentation in respect of his comments over the Human Rights stance with regards to the electric fence”.

The letter goes on to state that Mr Mabanga “is not totally informed of the status of the electric fence” and that the fence depicted in the picture in the Daily News 24 February “is still under construction” and “not operational”.

As the councillor who represents the community bordering the prison, I find it totally unacceptable that the head of the Correctional Centre appears to have lied about the stance of the HRC on this matter and additionally that he was not sufficiently informed about the status of the electric fence. I sincerely hope his replacement does a better job.

A copy of the letter is available here.

The beachfront development is a massive undertaking which will hopefully, like the new stadium, give tourism in Durban another shot in the arm. Why though, does it seem so difficult to get the basics right during the construction? Why out of 6 showers at North beach do only 2 work? Why are there dangerous heaps of twisted steel and concrete, rubble and materials on the beach and promenade? How difficult is it for the relevant officials to get 6 working showers on the busiest beach in Durban? Equally, surely it is in the interests of public safety to remove dangerous rubble, steel and concrete from the beach?

eThekwini is not getting enough of the basics right and these are but two of many such examples we experience on a daily basis in our City.

I would, however, like to applaud Durban Solid Waste for getting going with the cleanup at the beachfront promptly on the morning of the 2 January. It goes without saying that the amount of litter generated by the hundreds of thousands of New Year’s day beachgoers is massive and DSW have their work cut out cleaning it all up. They however, seem to have the basics right – they arrived, and they got started.

– DA Councillor, Warwick Chapman