The Connected Schools project aims, in this initial phase, to connect 86 schools to the Internet in areas like Umlazi, KwaMashu, Phoenix, Inanda, Sydenham and Overport . Quite simply, the more access our learners have to the Internet, the more learning and skills development we are going to see taking place.

This sort of project, once properly implemented and maintained, is an example of the sort of positive interventions which municipalities can make, in partnership with other spheres of government, to effect positive change in the lives of people looking for a way out of poverty. We know that in the 21st century knowledge is power.

Providing access to the Internet means providing access to the single largest repository of Information on the earth. Let’s do much much more of it in the years to come.

Our history is marred with the discrimination which results from conservatives providing excuses such as protecting culture or familiy values to legitmise things like apartheid or homophobia.

Basically, the party’s position, and one I hold personally, is that the only way forward for us is a more liberal, tolerant and free society where the right to be who you want to be and do what you wish is balanced only by the responsibility to respect the rights of others.

I personally see no reason whatsoever why a gay family would contribute to the erosion of family or social values. What is far more important is that children get to grow up in a supportive and healthy environment.

I am far more concerned, for example, about the damage to our social fabric caused by the institutionalised consumption of alcohol than I could ever be about something as inane as gay marriages. Yet society hardly ever makes a peep about our culture of drinking and being dangerous or abusive while drunk.

The reality is that until our democracy matures, you need to put your cross where it *really* counts. Right now, the most important thing for you or I is that this country, and by reference the health of our democracy, survives the damage being caused to it by the ANC government.

What we have is a race between the decline in the state’s ability to deliver and the quality of its delivery – and the resultant impact it has on the social cohesion of the poor – and the rise of the DA to unseat the Government.

It is not guaranteed, perhaps unlikely, that a mass uprising of the poor would rally behind the DA. Instead we must ensure that a peaceful transition in Government takes place so we can reduce the size of government, improve efficiency, improve quality, reduce wastage and most crucially, drive economic growth.

Right now, given what is at stake, your choice is one of which large party do I support, the DA or the ANC. That choice then becomes simpler: How many DA reps do you know? Do they work hard? Do they represent their communities? Are they corrupt?

I know, without a shred of doubt, that despite the many problems we have of our own, our public representatives form the most effective, honest and hardworking group of politicians in South Africa. We deal with non-performance and we deal with anything resembling corruption swiftly.

My view is that the only party you have the option to support in securing the immediate future of our country is the DA. Thereafter, as it stabilises, specialist interest group parties can grow and estalish themselves as players.

Lastly, I do not love the DA. It is large, unwieldy, messy organisation filled with a great many frustrating people. It does however, work its butt off to be better every day. And I respect that, and it is thus worthy of my support.

What I do love, is South Africa. And I want to save South Africa. The best chance we have of that right now is the DA, so I’m giving it everything I’ve got.

24 April 2011
Release: immediate

Note to editors: This is a plan to resurrect the eThekwini Metro Police jointly presented by DA Mayoral Candidates for eThekwini and Cape Town, Ronnie Veeran and Patricia de Lille, drawing on the successes of the DA government in Cape Town.

The Durban Metro Police are tasked with enforcing our municipal bylaws supporting the SAPS with crime prevention. A good Metro Police force will supplement the work of the SAPS.

Durban Metro Police have currently 1056 vacant posts out of about 2200. Cape Town had a 25% vacancy rate when the DA took over, which they regarded as a crisis, yet with a 48% vacancy rate the Dubran Metro Police spokesperson says there are “more than enough” staff (Independent on Saturday, 23 April).

As a result of the shortage of staff in the Metro Police, communities are being affected:
· When the Umlazi Metro Police branch was recently established, the core members of the Chatsworth Anti-Drug Team were moved to Umlazi as a result of a shortage of officers, effectively disbanding the team.

· The community of K-section KwaMashu had to stage protests before council would take measures on the notorious Nkonjane Rd which has claimed the lives of schoolchildren as a result of speeding. Speeding must be controlled through effective enforcement by speed timing.

· On an evening in April only 1 Metro Police officer instead of 14 were on duty for the entire Pinetown and Queensburgh areas.

As a result of a properly implemented urban management strategy and a revitalised Cape Town Metro Police, crime in the Cape Town CBD was reduced by 90% within 2 years of the DA taking government. The same strategy is being rolled out across the Cape Town Metro with a view to reducing crime in the rest of the Metro.

When the DA took the City of Cape Town over from the ANC in 2006, the Metro Police was dysfunctional and had been crippled by cadre deployment. The number of officers had been reduced by 800 members. One out of every four posts in the metro police service in Cape Town was vacant and there were severe shortages of equipment and specialised skills. The Metro Police had a reputation for corruption, inefficiency and ill-discipline.

A DA government in eThekwini will immediately invest funds to attracting experienced officers to the Metro Police. We will ensure they are properly equipped and trained. We will establishe specialised units to combat crime, copper theft, drinking and driving and speeding.

In the DA’s first 100 days in office, emergency funds were utilised to fill critical posts in the metro police. Extra money was allocated for police equipment. In the DA’s first financial year, the Metro Police received a bigger capital budget than it had had for the entire five years before that.

Cape Town now has a Metro Police engaged in more real police work than any other Metro Police in the country. They don’t just enforce by-laws. They go after the criminals who terrorise our communities. And they catch them.

Breaking the Chain: The DA’s Plan to Fight Drugs in eThekwini

Drugs and drug addiction are having a devastating effect on the eThekwini community. Residents of Chatsworth, Phoenix and other suburbs such as Claremont, Umlazi and KwaMashu have been caught in the stranglehold of notorious drugs such as sugars and whoonga.

Widespread addiction to these drugs has contributed to the tearing of our social fabric, broken families and a high incidence of crime and criminality. The local community bears the burden as dealers battle for turf and addicts look for every opportunity to fund their habits. In some suburbs of the city addicts have even resorted to preying on HIV patients to steal their ARV’s for the production of whoonga.

In Chatsworth the Metro Police were making exceptional breakthroughs in the fight against drugs and drug dealers and yet the unit’s special drug team was effectively disbanded when its 5 members were moved to the new Umlazi station, leaving the drug lords to operate with impunity. This is yet another indictment of how the effectiveness of our Metro Police is compromised by the poor management which has left the force with a 48% vacancy rate and thus only half the personnel it needs.

The DA-led city of Cape Town has demonstrated that the Metro Police, which are funded by the ratepayers of the metro, can be an enormously effective force in combating the sale and distribution of drugs. Since taking power in the city the DA created a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle the drugs scourge.

As a result, arrests for drug-related crimes soared from 180 in the 2005/6 financial year to a massive 955 in 2009/10 financial year. This has also contributed to the reduction of the overall crime statistics as drug-related offences are often linked to more serious offences such as murder, assault, theft and armed robbery.

A DA government in eThekwini would immediately set about creating a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle this problem head-on. This unit will consist of highly trained and equipped officers and an efficient intelligence gathering arm.

This unit would partner with the SAPS, private security companies and community policing fora to identify where drugs are being sold, how they are entering the city and the drug lords responsible for selling them. Partnerships will also be sought with the prosecuting authority to ensure that arrests, evidence gathering and subsequent prosecutions result in watertight convictions.

Keeping the lights on: the DA’s plan to stem cable theft

The theft of electricity cables within the eThekwini municipal area has reached dramatic proportions, severely hampering the operation of electricity infrastructure in the city. Officials in the eThekwini Electricity Department have revealed to the DA that there are an average of 15 incidents of cable theft per day, resulting in 300 – 400 light poles being blacked out and plunging key areas into darkness.

The theft of copper cables in Cape Town was a major problem. The Democratic Alliance city administration took decisive action and established the “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This specialised unit was tasked with combating cable theft as well as seeking out scrap dealers and individuals who were buying stolen cables. The unit has been extremely successful in prosecuting those who commit crimes of sabotage against the City of Cape Town. Such is the success of the unit, that the cost to the city to replace copper cabling has dropped from R20-million pa to just R500 000 pa.

We would take the following action steps within three months of taking office:

· establish a “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This unit will be staffed and equipped to fight those criminals who target municipal infrastructure and bring them to justice.

· motivate for the re-classification of the theft of electricity cables as sabotage to municipal infrastructure. This classification of sabotage carries a far heavier sentence in the courts.

· table a bylaw amendment to regulate and scrutinise scrap dealers who are buying stolen municipal infrastructure. Should scrap dealers be found to be in possession of stolen municipal infrastructure their business licence will be revoked.

Clamping Down: road safety begins and ends with enforcement

One of the Metro Police’s core responsibilities is to enforce the laws on our roads and keep a lid on drinking and driving. Speeding and drunk driving account for the majority of road fatalities in South Africa. According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation 45% of weekend fatalities are directly a result of drunk driving.

The key to changing driver behaviour is ensuring regular and strict enforcement of the law. Drivers must always be wary that they could get caught if they speed, drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs or break traffic laws.

We will ensure that:

· the culture of minor traffic offences and reckless driving is eradicated through strict enforcement of traffic laws and by-laws;

· an annual community survey is conducted to find the roads must in need of speed enforcement and the necessary applications are made to the Director of Public Prosecutions to enforce the speed limit on these roads;

· an annual community survey is conducted to establish major sources of drunk driving such as taverns, night clubs, sporting events and beach front venues and regular road blocks are set up as a deterrent.

Community Participation: collaborating with SAPS and the community

The primary role of crime prevention and investigating crimes falls with the SAPS who are a Provincial and National run competency. Our Metro Police service do play a role in crime fighting, and must play a greater role going forward. Some communities run neighbourhood watches and vibrant Community Policing forums but many others do not.

In order to enhance collaboration:
- in partnership with SAPS, functioning Community Policing Fora will be established in every policing area in the Metro and will engage in real crime prevention activities;
- Metro Police specialised units will be re-established and revitalised to combat specific crime types and Metro Police will be required to participate in all CPF activities in their area;
- we will increase communication and collaboration between CPF leadership, SAPS station commanders and Metro Police commanders;

Any criminal who enters a neighbourhood with an intention to commit a crime is unable to do so without being seen by a member of the community. Improved communication between community members, the SAPS, private security and Metro Police can be the difference between a crime being committed or prevented.

Summary

Durban Metro Police are grossly understaffed and lacking specialised units. We would urgently address the staffing, equipment and training shortages and establish specialised units to tackle specific crimes. We will emphasise the enforcement of bylaws by the Metro Police in order to combat the present culture of petty criminality.

We want the Durban Metro Police to be regarded as the Guardians of our Metro. Only through effective law enforcement can we build an efficient municipality which delivers for all.

Because the DA delivers for all!

Sithuthukisa wonke umuntu!

Ons lewer dienste aan almal!

Media Enquiries:

Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate
082 371 7698

Mbali Ntuli
Mayoral Spokesperson
072 118 8556

His argument that the municipality would have to dramatically increase rates to cover the costs of these additional officers are no doubt accurate. The eThekwini Municipality under Dr Sutcliffe’s management have handled the finances of the municipality so poorly that a full forensic investigation has been called by the Provincial Government. In the past financial year alone over R500m of irregular expenditure occurred – an amount equal to the entire Metro Police budget for this year.

The remainder of the City Manager’s response deals with the marginal decrease in eThekwini of “assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm” compared with other Metros. This argument is completely missing the point as it is the core responsibility of Metro Police to enforce the bylaws of eThekwini and not to reduce the rate of violent crime – as that is the role of SAPS. One would have expected the Municipal Manager to know this.

Our proposals indicate that a fully resourced Metro Police could well support SAPS in such activities but in the main Metro Police would focus on bylaw and traffic enforcement and targeting specialised crimes which affect the people of eThekwini, such as drugs and cable theft.

It does not take a revelation from the DA to see that Metro Police are not fulfilling their mandate. While the recent progress in the Drinking and Driving Unit is commendable, the rest of Metro Police remains grossly under-resourced as has been indicated in our prior press statements. This reality is supported by the non-response to a set of questions submitted over two weeks ago. The last question relates to an incident where only one officer is alleged to have been on duty for an entire night to cover the Pinetown and Queensburgh Metro Policing areas. The Chatsworth anti-drug Unit would not have been shut down if the shortage of Metro Police resources had not required the core members be transferred to staff the new Umlazi station.

Durban Metro Police are in a sorry state and it affects the quality of life of all who live in eThekwini. A DA government in eThekwini would prioritise getting our City Guardians back on their feet so we can manage our communities and grow our economy in a safe, responsible and law-abiding manner.

Statement by
Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate

Breaking the Chain: The DA’s Plan to Fight Drugs in eThekwini

22 April 2011

Release: immediate

Drugs and drug addiction are having a devastating effect on the eThekwini community. Residents of Chatsworth, Phoenix and other suburbs such as Claremont, Umlazi and KwaMashu have been caught in the stranglehold of notorious drugs such as sugars and whoonga.

Widespread addiction to these drugs has contributed to the tearing of our social fabric, broken families and a high incidence of crime and criminality. The local community bears the burden as dealers battle for turf and addicts look for every opportunity to fund their habits. In some suburbs of the city addicts have even resorted to preying on HIV patients to steal their ARV’s for the production of whoonga.

In Chatsworth the Metro police were making exceptional breakthroughs in the fight against drugs and drug dealers and yet the unit’s special drug team was effectively disbanded when its 5 members were moved to the new Umlazi station, leaving the drug lords to operate with impunity. This is yet another indictment of how the effectiveness of our Metro Police is compromised by the poor management which has left the force with a 49% vacancy rate and thus only half the personnel it needs.

The DA-led city of Cape Town has demonstrated that the Metro Police, which are funded by the ratepayers of the metro, can be an enormously effective force in combating the sale and distribution of drugs. Since taking power in the city the DA created a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle the drugs scourge.

As a result, arrests for drug-related crimes soared from 180 in the 2005/6 financial year to a massive 955 in 2009/10 financial year. This has also contributed to the reduction of the overall crime statistics as drug-related offences are often linked to more serious offences such as murder, assault, theft and armed robbery.

If the DA was to take over the eThekwini municipality, we would immediately set about creating a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle this problem head-on. This unit will consist of highly trained and equipped officers and an efficient intelligence gathering arm.

This unit would partner with the SAPS, private security companies and community policing fora to identify where drugs are being sold, how they are entering the city and the drug lords responsible for selling them. Partnerships will also be sought with the prosecuting authority to ensure that arrests, evidence gathering and subsequent prosecutions result in watertight convictions.

It is now time for decisive action to be taken in eThekwini to combat the scourge. For far too long drug lords and pushers have been able to get away with their crimes whilst communities suffer. We must get our metro officers out on the beat and taking the fight to the drug lords on our streets.

Statement by
Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate

21 April 2011

Release: immediate

The Democratic Alliance recognises the need for safe and clean communities where people can live and work free from fear and danger. We recognise that the community itself has a central role to play in the fight against crime and that a partnership between South African Police Service, private security and the community and the municipality is required to reduce crime in eThekwini.

The Democratic Alliance has a plan to reduce the space in our communities which allows criminals to operate.

A DA government in eThekwini would ensure that:

- in partnership with SAPS, functioning Community Policing Fora will be established in every policing area in the Metro and will engage in real crime prevention activities;
- we will establish a small, effective Community Safety unit to initiate and support the establishment of street and neighbourhood watches to work with CPFs based on best practices learned from around the Metro;
- we will support and encourage reasonable partnerships between communities and private security to secure neighbourhoods and streets;
- Metro Police specialised units will be re-established and revitalised to combat specific crime types and Metro Police will be required to participate in all CPF activities in their area;
- we will increase communication and collaboration between CPF leadership, SAPS station commanders and Metro Police commanders;
- all councillors will be required to involve themselves in CPF and neighbourhood watch activities.

The primary role of crime prevention and investigating crimes falls with the SAPS who are a Provincial and National run competency. Our Metro Police service do play a role in crime fighting, and must play a greater role going forward. Some communities run neighbourhood watches and vibrant Community Policing forums but many others do not.

Any criminal who enters a neighbourhood with an intention to commit a crime is unable to do so without being seen by a member of the community. Improved communication between community members, the SAPS, private security and Metro Police can be the difference between a crime being committed or prevented.

Crime is a complex problem, deeply integrated into our social fabric. We recognise that all three spheres of government need to play a role in combating and preventing crime in our communities. A DA government in eThekwini will ensure that the fight against crime is a top priority.

20 April 2011
Release: immediate

The theft of electricity cables within the eThekwini municipal area has reached dramatic proportions, severely hampering the operation of electricity infrastructure in the city. Officials in the eThekwini Electricity Department have revealed to the DA that there are an average of 15 incidents of cable theft per day, resulting in 300 – 400 light poles being blacked out and plunging key areas into darkness.

This growing cable-theft trend threatens the very infrastructure of the City, causing serious damage to electrical substations and necessitating repairs running into millions of rand. Yet the eThekwini municipality has done virtually nothing to combat the problem and has allowed large portions of major freeways and suburban roads to remain unlit, due to a massive and costly backlog of cables needing replacement.

Cable thieves operate with such impunity in eThekwini that replaced cables are stolen again less than 24 hours after being replaced. The resulting theft increases the danger factor by creating crime-friendly, dimly lit areas, while at the same time causing a danger to traffic on busy, dark freeways.

The theft ofcopper cables in Cape Town was a major problem. The Democratic Alliance city administration took decisive action and established the “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This specialised unit was tasked with combating cable theft as well as seeking out scrap dealers and individuals who were buying stolen cables. The unit has been extremely successful in prosecuting those who commit crimes of sabotage against the City of Cape Town. Such is the success of the unit, that the cost to the city to replacecopper cabling has dropped from R20-million pa to just R500 000 pa.

Today I commit the Democratic Alliance to taking the following action steps within three months of taking office:

- We will establish a “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This unit will be staffed and equipped to fight those criminals who target municipal infrastructure and bring them to justice.

- We will motivate for the re-classification of the theft of electricity cables as sabotage to municipal infrastructure. This classification of sabotage carries a far heavier sentence in the courts.

- We will table a bylaw amendment to regulate and scrutinise scrap dealers who are buying stolen municipal infrastructure. Should scrap dealers be found to be in possession of stolen municipal infrastructure their business licence will be revoked.

The DA led city of Cape Town has shown that this scourge can be beaten if the necessary resources are provided and there is the political will to tackle the problems. We believe our plan will decisively overcome the challenges and ensure that the DA keeps the lights on for all the citizens of eThekwini.

Media Enquiries:

Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate
082 371 7698

Mbali Ntuli
Mayoral Spokesperson
072 118 8556

Holiday seasons offer our city a prime opportunity to put its best foot forward and show visitors what we have to offer and in so doing, encourage them to keep coming back. The unsightly construction work taking place on the prime promenade, the Golden Mile, a week before the Easter break does exactly the opposite. After a walkabout yesterday to inspect the readiness of the beachfront for the holidays, I was met by incomplete construction work, untrimmed vegetation and dying palm trees and still empty restaurants built before the World Cup. Our beachfront is sorely in need of the proper management and attention to detail which can make it the best holiday location in the country.

The Golden Mile is eThekwini’s best asset for marketing the City. Our sandy beaches, warm ocean temperatures and tropical climate mean that we have the perfect ingredients for a year-round and world-class tourism product. What we don’t have right now is the commitment and co-ordination by the city council to ensure that we leverage these ingredients into a recipe for real success. A successfully managed, safe and polished beachfront will attract increasing numbers of tourists to Durban every year, increasing economic growth and job creation.

The DA-run city of Cape Town enjoys a large market share of the local and international tourist trade precisely because it has developed itself as a tourist centered city committed to offering all visitors a safe, enjoyable and memorable stay. Cape Town has recognized that tourism holds massive potential for employment opportunities and economic development and attracts large amounts of foreign and local revenue into the city helping to stimulate the local economy.

Under a DA led administration we will ensure that maintenance and upgrading of our key tourist assets is regular and planned outside of key holiday periods. Our tourism assets across the city will all be included in a detailed asset register and will be set down for scheduled inspection on a regular basis. This will ensure that any construction will cause the minimum disruption to both tourists and locals alike. The development of sustainable ‘new’ tourism initiatives in other parts of the City will be prioritised. Township, rural and adventure tourism potential in eThekwini presents major growth and job opportunities but require professional development support and ongoing management of the greater tourism environment by the City.

The DA-run city of Cape Town has shown that a focused and organized commitment to developing tourism assets yields big dividends as more visitors flock to the city. There is no reason why we cannot do the same here in eThekwini. I will commit our DA administration to delivering on the potential which our beautiful city offers and place us at the apex of tourism destinations where we rightfully belong.

The DA: You deserve clean, safe communities you can be proud to live in

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Democratic Alliance eThekwini Mayoral candidate, Ronnie Veeran and his team descended on Lenham in Phoenix today to kick off the DA’s Civic Pride Campaign.

In the face of the failure of the eThekweni Municipality to properly maintain the area, the DA Mayoral Candidate lead a team of supporters and community members in a cleanup of the Rucklen Place flats.

Residents have complained for many months about council’s inability to maintain the public open spaces in the area. Grass verges have not been cut for many months, refuse and rubble is dumped indiscriminately and broken glass makes it dangerous for children and pedestrians.

Cllr Veeran lead a team which cleaned up the area around Rucklen Place, cutting and raking grass verges, collecting litter and picking up broken glass.

The DA believes that municipal maintenance of our built and green environment must be properly managed in order to ensure a clean and safe space for people to live and work. Untidy and dirty public spaces also make criminals feel welcome in our communities. We deserve clean, well maintained spaces where criminals feel uncomfortable operating,and where children and pedestrians feel safe to play and move in their communities.

In the City of Cape Town, the DA has focused on creating safer communities by focussing on good planning, improved maintenance and the delivery of new infrastructure. Khayelitsha is South Africa’s third largest township and was notoriously poorly planned and devoid of community infrastructure. The City of Cape Town under DA governance has changed both the urban landscape and the lives of ordinary people in Khayelitsha.

Focusing on four ‘safe nodes’ in the community, neatly paved walkways, regularly spaced streetlamps, public squares and multi-functional modern public buildings have replaced informal sprawl. The maintenance of these and other public spaces is well managed and creates a cleaner, safer environment than existed before.

The residents of Phoenix and every other community in South Africa deserve safe, clean communities. A DA government in eThekwini would ensure that capable officials would drive a programme of cleaning, maintenance and rolling out new infrstructure to make our communities safer and cleaner to live in.

“The DA will bring the promise of opportunity to the people of eThekwini through clean and efficient government.”

The dream which was laid before South Africa in 1994 by the father of our nation was founded on the opportunity which the new South Africa presented to its people. Opportunity would now become available to all South Africans to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Government’s role would be to expand opportunity and provide the poorest of the poor with the means to take advantage of that opportunity.

The eThekwini Metro provides a clear example of how poorly performing local governments rob people of opportunity. Corruption and the emphasis on political grandeur waste scarce public funds, cadre deployment reduces efficiency and the mismanagement of departments compromises the ability of the municipality to deliver. The bottom line is that less money is available to a less efficient council to roll out the services and infrastructure needed for opportunity to abound.

The AGSA reported that R500m of irregular expenditure occurred in the previous financial year. Remant Alton collapsed our bus service, taking millions of Rand of public funds with it. Treasury has spent R500m developing a Revenue Management System which is 5 years late and R400m over budget. In the 2010/11 financial year, council only built 8500 of the budgeted 16000 houses. The Durban Metro Police Service has a vacany rate of 48% with 1056 posts unfilled.

These are but a few of the failures of the government of the past 5 years to deliver opportunity to the people of eThekwini. A DA government in eThekwini will make the delivery of opportunity to all the cornerstone of its programme of delivery through capable leadership and a focus on the many developmental imperatives of our City.

Capable leadership is a requirement for all DA governments. The DA recognises the crucial role leadership plays in ensuring that transparency, accountability and efficiency are the foundation of effective local governments. The significant developmental challenges which face our City can only be overcome through tight and efficient expenditure of funds, developing a passion for delivery in the 22000 employees of the municipality and through an unwavering commitment to create jobs through economic growth while protecting the poorest of the poor.

A DA government in eThekwini will ensure total transparency of the council and tender process to eradicate corruption and increase the business done with emerging contractors. In the City of Cape Town, the DA introduced transparency. All Council meetings and Mayoral Committee meetings were opened to the public. So too were all meetings of the Bid Adjudication Tender Award Committee which decides all contracts between the City and outsider suppliers.

A DA government in eThekwini will ensure infrastructure and services are rolled out in an efficient and cost-effective fashion in order to provide the foundation for growing our metro economy and creating jobs. In the City of Cape Town, investment in infrastructure that benefits the public and supports the economy rose from R950m in 2004/05 to R3,1 billion in 2008 and 3,5bn in 2010/11, an increase of over 300%. The DA tripled spending on repairs and maintenance from R800m/year to R1,6bn/year.

A DA government in eThekwini will ensure that the system of housing is overhauled to rid it of corruption and dramatically increase the provision of housing. The post-2006 City of Cape Town government has built three times the number of houses its predecessor managed and rationalised the housing waiting lists to ensure the poorest benefit first and list corruption is eradicated.

A DA government in eThekwini will ensure maximum expenditure against capital budgets and infrastructure grants and ensure that debt collection is improved. From 2006, the DA increased the percentage of Cape Town’s capital budget spent from an average of 65% under the ANC to well over 80% and as high as 97% in 2008/09. The DA’s greater collection rate benefited the poor: By the end of 2007, 16% of the poorest households in Cape Town experienced an actual reduction to their municipal account.

A DA government in eThekwini will attend urgently to the desperate state of our Metro Police Service and ensure they are engaged in reducing crime and enforcing the laws of our City. In its first 100 days in Government in 2006, the DA in the City of Cape Town allocated R56.8 million to fund critical posts in the city, particularly for nurses, fire-fighters and police services.

The track record of DA governments across the country speaks for itself. Corruption has been virtually eradicated making more public funds available for developmental priorities. Well maintained and reliable infrastructure in a safer and more attractive environment along with the lower cost of doing business has meant economic growth is higher and unemployment is lower in DA-run municipalities.

The DA will bring the promise of opportunity to the people of eThekwini through clean and efficient government. The DA is the only party with a track record of delivering corruption-free governments that deliver economic growth, infrastructure and services, poverty relief and community safety. Voters can now compare this track record with that of other parties and make an informed choice who to lend their vote to for 5 years.