Warwick Bruce Chapman

The need for proper housing is a critical and emotive issue in this country. Even Tokyo Sexwale agrees that the reasons Maggie Govender gave for KZN’s failure to spend its housing budget are not good enough. The KZN Provincial Government wasted the opportunity to provide homes and security to poor families, and at the same time denied economic opportunities to emerging contractors to build those homes and create jobs in the process.

As a result, National Government will be transferring nearly R500m in funding from KZN, the second most populous province in the country, to Limpopo and the Northern Cape, and with it will go the opportunity for housing and employment for thousands of families in the province. This is classic failure to deliver and governments who do not deliver must be punished by voters.

NOTE: This letter was published in the Mercury, 17 January

Visvin Reddy’s letter in Mercury 13 January refers. The very fact that Mr Reddy wrote the letter, contents aside, means he considers the DA important enough to comment on . If the DA were, as he suggests, an opposition party about to be obliterated, then why would he bother?

Contrary to what Mr Reddy has written, the facts are that the ANC did not grow during the previous election, and instead lost nearly 5% and its two-thirds majority. KZN was the only province in South Africa where the ruling party did not lose supporters thanks in entirety to the convenience of an IFP implosion.

Further, it is a fact that where the DA governs, it delivers better than the ANC or IFP. The best run municipalities around the country are all run by the DA as shown by ranking and awards during the past year. The Western Cape achieved a full suite of 25 clean audits for the first time since 1994 after only one year of DA governance.

The thrust of Zille’s take on Mr Zuma’s speech highlights the tug-of-war at play within the governing party where the left’s demands are challenged by everyone else within the ANC’s assertion that they are untenable. Nationalise? Ask the NUM if their workers want to work for nationalised mines? Ban foreign ownership? We can’t yet make productive the land we do own, why restrict foreign investment just because the socialist mindset abhors it?

The DA is a sound, evolving and growing party which is the only real challenger to the ANC at present. The DA has a responsibility to continue showing, through superior delivery and a tough as nails approach to corruption, that there is real choice for voters in South Africa.

Editor

I have it on good authority that a request and motivation are to be forwarded to the City Manager that “Durban” be officially renamed to “Dirtbin”. I call on Dr Sutcliffe to reject this request, regardless of the very real merits of the motivation. He would, however, do well to heed the reasons why people from other parts of the country have started calling us “Dirtbin”.

Littering, dumping and going to the toilet in public go unpunished in Durban – and authorities like Durban Solid Waste are helpless as Metro Police do little to enforce the bylaws. Dr Sutcliffe, before you leave us, please get Metro Police back on the horse and enforcing the laws of this City.

– Cllr Warwick Bruce Chapman, Pinetown

Editor

Yesterday another 8 people were massacred in the greater Pinetown area. This brings to 18 the number of people murdered in mass murders in the last 6 weeks. There is something fundamentally wrong with the structure of our communities in this area. Whether it is political, drug or crime related, our Police Service must figure out what is going on so community leaders can get to work trying to address the social causes of these tragedies.

– Cllr Warwick Bruce Chapman, Pinetown

The spate of violent crime in the Pinetown area has prompted the community to revolt against the Police station and call for the replacement of the station commander. The multiple murder in Shongweni is yet another tragedy which could be the product of the poor state of Policing in our country at present. Indeed the murderers in last week’s Ashley murder were out on bail.

Our constitution requires that the Police Service must “discharge its responsibilities effectively” and states the object of the Police Service as to “prevent, combat and investigate crime”. It is no secret that too many of our Police are obsessed with power and money and not in the least interested in ensuring the effective discharging of their responsibilities.

The Pinetown community knows that its station is without doubt not effectively discharging its responsibilities, and we’re taking a stand. We expect every available man and vehicle on patrol, every incident of bribery or corruption to result in a dismissal and every instance of dereliction of duty to result in a suspension and disciplinary hearing. The time has come to restore discipline, integrity and a culture of service into our Police Service. Take a stand and assure your rights as afforded to you under our constitution.