Warwick Bruce Chapman

To the Justice Verma Committee

I visited India in 2009 and to this day consider it the most interesting and friendly country I have ever visited. I would return in an instant if the opportunity arose.

India is known the world over for its association with peace, spirituality and vibrance. The Satyagraha that Mr Gandhi developed while in my country, South Africa, was pivotal to your nation’s own independence.

When I visited in 2009, it was clear then that, not unlike my own country, the general populace were beginning to grow very concerned with the disconnect between those elected to lead the country and the needs of the people. Corruption and all the ills associated with it seem to be a growing trend in developing countries like ours.

In South Africa we are just emerging from possibly the deadliest festive season in history as far as traffic fatalities are concerned, with an estimated 1600 people to have been killed on our roads in the past month. Corruption and poor management are to blame, with Police not doing enough about drunk and reckless driving, and other departments failing in their duty to keep unroadworthy vehicles off the roads.

I use this example because it shows how a government that no longer has its finger on the pulse, a government which is focused on political games and self-enrichment, is a government which does little to make the lives of their citizens, most especially the poor, any better.

The grotesque crime against Jyoti Singh Pandey in your country has been closely followed in mine. South Africa has one of the highest incidence of rape in the world and it is said that nearly two thirds of all South African men are rapists, just worse than the around one quarter of Indian men.

Rape in South Africa is another example of a serious issue which affects the lives of South Africans significantly and yet goes relatively unaddressed by our elected leaders. I expect our leaders to speak out on a regular basis about rape, gender discrimination, and the broader ills affecting our society caused by corruption but they do not.

But far more than that, in the second decade of the 21st century, it is high time that leaders started to actively do something about these crimes. The ability and willingless of our respective government machinery to investigate and prosecute rape cases leaves much to be desired. Often far more debilitating than the lack of competent forensic facilities, is the attitude of the investigators and other officials to the crime. Too many men regard rape as something that women must just get over, and far too many more regard rape as something that certain women ask for.

To that I say the following: “Rape is not something that happens to a certain type of woman. Rape is something perpetrated by a certain type of man.”

We need to sensitise our societies and sharpen our law enforcement to the point where the most despised and most harshly punished individuals are the perpetrators of rape.

A political leader who has an interest in maintaining access to the levers of power they so desire would do well to take this and related issues very seriously going forward. The Arab Spring of the past two years has shown the world that the general populace of any country, especially the youth, will tolerate only so much before they revolt. We needn’t ever learn that lesson again.

Please consider signing the petition here and sending an email to the Justice Verma Commission yourself.

Faithfully
Warwick Chapman
eThekwini, South Africa

The Chairperson of the eThekwini Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr William Mapena, declined a request from the DA at today’s sitting for the Committee to regard with more urgency the improving the delivery of housing in eThekwini.

During the 2011/12 financial year, eThekwini Municipality delivered only 4900 houses, a fraction of the nearly 19000 houses delivered by the council at its peak in 2008. Reasons given for this slowdown in delivery of housing in eThekwini are many and varied, ranging from reduced funding from provincial government to problems with environmental legislation. The truth however, is hidden in the Manase report, giving us some idea just why council has been so reluctant to keep this report from the public.

Off the record conversations with senior housing officials during the course of this year has made it clear that eThekwini’s Housing Department got used to flouting legislation, not being compliant with regulations, and awarding contracts left right and centre – resulting in impressive output of housing. During the tenure of Mike Mabuyakhula as Human Settlements MEC, the eThekwini housing department was said to have been given near open access to funds without the onerous reporting obligations normally required. These allegations would seem to be supported by the over R432m irregular expenditure the AGs report found to have taken place in the housing department during the 2010/11 financial year.

The net result is that eThekwini Housing department, now having to comply with the regulations and report timeously to the provincial department, is struggling to get sufficient projects moving on the ground. The housing backlog in eThekwini is around 450 000 units, which would take us over 40 years to meet we’re we building houses at 2008 delivery rates and will take us well over a century at present rates.

Against this backdrop, DA councillor Warwick Chapman urged the Human Settlements and Infrastructure committee and the officials present from the Housing Department to place more urgency on the challenge of ramping up housing delivery in eThekwini. He pointed out that in the period of the last three months, not a single report had been tabled before the committee relating to the delivery of housing projects in eThekwini.

Committee chairperson councillor Wlliam Mapena glossed over Chapman’s request and later referred him to the 140 page quarterly report of the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) to seek answers to his request and closed the matter.

The DA in eThekwini recognises the importance of delivery sufficient housing opportunities every year in order to meaningfully improve the living conditions of over 1 million eThekwini residents who live in informal settlements. In order for the eThekwini Housing Department to ramp up the delivery of housing, the committee must take more seriously the challenges the department faces. The department must be urgently be shored up with the necessary specialist personnel to navigate the complex legislative and reporting framework required to sustainably access sufficient housing grants from the provincial department.

Ends

Media enquiries

Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094

The Speaker – eThekwini Council
Councillor Logie Naidoo
City Hall
DURBAN

18 August 2012

Dear Mr Speaker

NOTICE OF MOTION IN TERMS OF RULE OF ORDER 13

The Speaker – eThekwini Council
Councillor Logie Naidoo
City Hall
DURBAN
16 April 2012
Dear Mr Speaker

NOTICE OF MOTION IN TERMS OF RULE OF ORDER 13

This council noting:

1. the rapidly changing land use in parts of our City;
2. the changing priorities of our City government;
3. the significant challenge of maintaining and cleansing all parks and public open spaces;
4. the poor state of maintenance and cleanliness of many parks and public open spaces; and – that neglected parks and public open spaces are often used as bases for criminal activity.

Resolves that the Parks department be mandated to within 3 months of this meeting:

1. Investigate and report on the feasibility of entering into Public-Private Partnerships with businesses located adjacent to or across from public parks or public open spaces whereby:
   • businesses share the costs of maintaining, cleansing and lighting the parks
   • in exchange a portion of the park not exceeding 25% be converted to strictly managed parking

for use by the businesses in a manner approved by the Parks department.

1. Report on any bylaw changes which may need to take place to allow for such an initiative.
2. Identify 5 pilot sites for a 1 year pilot after which a framework and guidelines be drawn up for this to be replicated across eThekwini.

PROPOSER Councillor Warwick Chapman
SECONDER Councillor Rick Crouch

In April 2011 I identified that DMPS had a vacancy rate of 48% with 1056 of 2200 posts vacant. Now as of January 2012, a marginal improvement sees 81 posts filled resulting in a 44.3% vacancy rate.

Of concern is the fact that while the number of sergeant and captain posts have increased by 26 to 193 (26 new posts), the number of vacancies has increased by 32 posts from 54 (32.3%) in 2011 to 86 (44.6%) now.

Sergeants and Captains are the leaders that make or break a police service on the ground.

January 2012
Total Uniform staff as per the Organogram = 2202 (+2 posts)
Total Uniform staff vacancies = 975 (-81 posts)
Total Uniform staff vacancy rate = 44.3% (-3.7% points)

Total Sergeant/Captain posts = 193 (+26 posts)
Total Sergeant/Captain vacancies = 86 (+32 posts)
Total Sergeant/Captain vacancy rate = 44.6% (12.2% points)

April 2011
Total Uniform staff as per the Organogram = 2200
Total Uniform staff vacancies = 1056
Total Uniform staff vacancy rate = 48.0%

Total Sergeant/Captain posts = 167
Total Sergeant/Captain vacancies = 54
Total Sergeant/Captain vacancy rate = 32.3%