Warwick Bruce Chapman

Dear Editor

I’m tired of the abundance of professional whingers I have to deal with on a daily basis. Too often do I hear throw away comments about how “the municipality does nothing” for our rates and taxes. Such statements demonstrate a level of ignorance which should have no place in the South Africa of today. In eThekwini we patently have water, electricity, excellent roads, reliable refuse removal (recycling), beaches, pools, uShaka, ICC, and yes parks and gardens – even though many spaces aren’t maintained as well as they should be.

Further, a huge proportion of our budget is spent spent rolling out infrastructure, services and housing to parts of the City where there were none before. How many of these professional moaners have actually driven to Waterloo or through the new KwaMashu town centre or visited Bridge City and seen that despite the many issues facing this council, money is actually spent relatively well.

I continue to be stunned by the number of people quite happy to say things like “we get nothing” for our taxes or “the government does nothing”. Do yourself a favour, go to Zimbabwe or Mozambique or Angola and spend some time there. Perhaps then you’ll stop taking for granted the services our governments provide.

And don’t get me wrong, Cape Town refers, we could and should be doing more and better but we’re hardly doing nothing.

CLLR WB CHAPMAN
Glenwood

Dear Editor

Firstly, to the resident who SMS’d last week about the derelict house in Somerset Ave, the formal processes for remedy have been exhausted and the issue has now been handed over to the enforcement team for action to be taken against the property owner. Unfortunately these things do take time but you can rest assured that in the background the cogs are moving.

To the land owners in Essex and Enfield roads who are working to clean up their derelict buildings, thank you very much for doing your bit to rid this community of grime and contribute to our efforts to combat crime. With the support of eThekwini officials we are also following up on other derelict houses including those in Evans Rd, Davenport Ave, Macdonald Rd and Bartle Rd.

You might ask what it is that you can do as a member of this community, or any other for that matter, to contribute to cleaning up and improving safety? In short, you can help in one of two areas: crime and grime. Combating crime is only effective when the community partners with SAPS, and getting involved with the Community Policing Forum is the most effective way of achieving that. Neighbourhood watches which work in conjunction with the CPF are another. Ridding our community of grime makes criminals feel less at home, and when we feel safer to be out and about in our numbers, we reduce the spaces in which criminals operate. We do this by maintaining our buildings, keeping vacant plots and bushes under control, cleaning our parks, and ensuring our public infrastructure is in a good state of repair.

You can help by taking initiative where you see a problem to either mobilise community members and tackle the problem ourselves or to work with public officials to find a solution. We have much to do in both combating crime and ridding our community of grime but a collective desire to improve will ensure we see the change we need. Inch by inch, with the support of community members, we will make Umbilo and Glenwood among the safest and most friendly places to live in eThekwini.

Warwick Chapman, Ward Councillor for Glenwood and Umbilo

Dear Editor

Asset losses as a result of cable theft in eThekwini over the past five years amount to nearly R100m. This figure does not take into account losses to consumers caused by the resulting outage or power surge.

In the 2006/7 financial year, cable theft losses in Cape Town were recorded at R22-million. Just a year later losses had been reduced to R496 800, representing a 44-fold decrease from one financial year to the next.

What could possibly explain such a dramatic decline in just one year? The answer is simply that the Cape Town council took a policy decision not to tolerate cable theft any longer and to invest in combating the crime. The council established the Metals Theft Unit or “Copperheads” as a specialised unit of the Cape Town Metro Police to combat the theft of copper and other metals.

The 12-person unit, through tip-offs from the public, as well as proactive intelligence-gathering, was mandated to find, catch and arrest copper thieves. The unit arrests between 200 and 300 per year of which about 50 are council workers. Theft of brass water meters was reduced from 1700 per month in 2007, to 10 per month in 2009.

There is no reason why this success cannot be replicated in eThekwini and other metros. eThekwini’s own attempt to combat cable theft is a unit established in 2009 with a R29m budget and six posts. It has been unable to attract the investigators required to fill the vacant posts in the unit. There have been no convictions of scrap metal dealers in eThekwini since the unit was established.

At a National level, the Second Hand Goods Law which was passed in 2009 has not yet been implemented by SAPS. It creates a solid framework for law enforcement to pursue and prosecute copper thieves and must urgently be implemented.

Copper theft has a direct impact on the lives of our people, and always hits poorer communities hardest. eThekwini then has to spend additional resources replacing infrastructure instead of rolling out more services to the poor.

In my opinion, even if it costs us R30m per year to prevent R30m of cable theft, the measures are worthwhile as they reduce loss of productivity and costly damage to consumer equipment.

Cllr WB Chapman

Dear Editor

At the 5 September council meeting, the chair of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure committee will answer formal questions I have tabled pertaining to cable theft in eThekwini and whether the action the municipality is taking to combat this serious problem is sufficient.

In the 2007/8 financial year cable theft losses for eThekwini were reported by the then Minister for Local Government to be R36-million.  In the City of Cape Town over the same period, cable theft losses were recoprted at R496 800. Just a year earlier, in the 2006/7 financial year, cable theft losses in the City of Cape Town were recorded at R22-million.

This represent a 44-fold decrease in losses for the City of Cape Town from one financial year to the next.

What could possible explain such a dramatic decline in just one year?  The answer is simply that the council took a policy decision not to tolerate cable theft any longer and to invest in combatting the crime.  During that financial year, Cape Town established a task team known as the Copperheads to combat the theft of copper and other metals in the City.

In my opinion, even if it costs us R30million per year to prevent R30million of cable theft, the measures are still worthwhile as they reduce loss of productivity and costly damage to equipment caused by the outages and surges which result from cable theft.  Cable theft can be combatted by this municipality, all we need is the political will to do it properly.

– Cllr Warwick Chapman
Spokesperson: Infrastructure

Editor

This week we’ve read in the media the first real confirmations that other African countries are starting to receive foreign investment instead of South Africa because of the threats of nationalisation being made by the ANC Youth League. Locally, businesses and individuals are also becoming nervous to sustain their investments because the future stability of the economy appears uncertain in the face of Mr Malema’s insistence on nationalisation and expropriation of land as a quick fix to our social issues.

Creating a better life for all South Africans means creating jobs, increasing economic opportunities and delivering better. In order to do that we must attract investment, grow our production capacity and, critically, educate and train well so we have the skills to support that growth and delivery. That basic model has worked in the most successful developing countries.

Zambia and Venezuela are two very good examples of how nationalisation can either decimate mining or result in gross under-performance of an economy. Zimbabwe is a very nearby example of how the expropriation of land, and farms in particular, will tear the foundation out from under an economy. Mr Malema is promoting a model which has been shown the world over to be inefficient and prone to corruption and manipulation.

If the ANC wants to deliver on its promises and have a hope of ever stopping its electoral decline, it needs to act decisively against the ANCYL and its policy demands and start repairing our reputation as a safe investment destination.

The future prosperity of our nation depends on it.