To all of those who chose stones or the race card today to attack the most diverse party in South Africa, watch the DA unfold before you as a truly non-racial party which will be lead by any South African regardless of race – because they are the best person to lead us.

Watch us win Gauteng and the Northern Cape in 2014 and watch us push the ANC to the brink in the North West. Watch us win Johannesburg, Tshwane, Port Elizabeth and many other local municipalities in 2016.

In all these provincial and local governments, watch us eradicate corruption, improveme job creation and ramp up service delivery.”

Helen Zille recently said:
“Why are there “No More Mandelas”? Why is it that most current ANC leaders seek to entrench division rather than promote reconciliation? The answer is that this formula suits them well. All they have to do to keep winning elections, is to divide people on the basis of race, and keep them hating each other. It is the easiest recipe in politics for short-term power, and long-term disaster. And, as Nelson Mandela said: “We have to be better than that”. That is the most difficult challenge of politics.”

It is easy to attack using populism and hate and much harder to address the real problems plaguing our society. We need all the support we can get on the orad to 2014.

MEC Willies Mchunu declines to hold Police accountable

DURBAN, 2 April 2012 – KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, today spurned a request to secure commitments from the Umbilo Station Commander and the Provincial Commissioner of Police to embrace the CPF and the community, and to commit the Unbilo Police Station to fighting crime; a request that Democratic Alliance Cllr Warwick Chapman views as not only essential to addressing the problem of crime, but also in line with the police mandate in the South African Constitution.

During a 4-hour public meeting on 2 April 2012 to deal with the long running problems at the Umbilo Police Station, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu spurned a request to secure commitments from the Umbilo Station Commander and the Provincial Commissioner of Police.

The Umbilo SAPS has been in the media over the past years for all the wrong reasons. Umbilo SAPS’s poor handling of rape cases, allegations of Police involvement in crime, particularly the explosion of drug-related crime, lack of action on known crime threats and lack of commitment to work with the CPF angered much of the Umbilo community. These frustrations boiled over into a public protest outside the Police station in February which caught the attention of the MEC who received a memorandum and committed to meeting with the community.

The situation exploded last week when Mthokozisi Ngcobo of Oliver Lea Drive in Umbilo was fatally stabbed by three attackers in Umbilo Park. Umbilo Park is a serious crime hotspot which has repeatedly been brought to the attention of Umbilo SAPS without any significant intervention ever having taken place. Police officers are said to have reverted that since they cannot drive their vehicles into the park, they cannot patrol it, dismissing requests that they do so on foot.

During the latter part of the public meeting I rose to acknowledge the intervention which had taken place by the MEC and Provincial Commissioner and request a commitment from the Station Commander to embrace the CPF and the community and commit his station to fighting crime, and that the Provincial Commissioner commit to handling any allegation of Police involvement in crime.

The MEC immediately rose and told the meeting “We are not here to hold the Police accountable. We are not here to extract commitments from the Police.” He then instructed both the station commander and the Provincial Commissioner that they need not build any such commitments into their responses to the issues raised during the meeting.

The MEC is absolutely incorrect. The problems at Umbilo SAPS are entirely the result of an absence of accountability and a lack of commitment from the Police. The community crime fighting partnership relies as a precursor on SAPS fulfilling its constitutional mandate to “effectively prevent, combat and investigate crime”. Securing a commitment from SAPS and ensuring they are held accountable are entirely appropriate under the circumstances.

The MEC in partnership with the Provincial Commissioner has a legal responsibility to play an oversight role and to ensure effective and accountable management of Police stations in KZN. To spurn a request to secure public commitment from the Police to do their jobs properly can be seen as nothing other than the MEC shielding the failure to deliver by SAPS management.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Cllr Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094
warwickc@da.org.za

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%

–

The Speaker – eThekwini Council
Councillor Logie Naidoo
City Hall
DURBAN

22 January 2012

Dear Mr Speaker

QUESTIONS IN TERMS OF SECTION 17 OF THE RULES OF ORDER

The Durban Metropolitan Police Service has an extremely important role in the proper functioning of our City. In order for DMPS to fulfil its mandate, it must be fully capacitated and well lead throughout the structures.

In this regard, Captains are extremely important leaders in DMPS area structures and are crucial to the proper functioning of each shift and specialised unit. Questions 4 and 5 relate to Captains in DMPS.

1. How many Metro Police officers are indicated in the organogram under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

2. How many Metro Police officers are presently employed under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

3. How many Captains are indicated in the organogram under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

4. How many Captains are presently employed under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

5. If the answer to question 4. above indicates shortage in the number of Captains presently employed relative to those provided for in the organogram, what is being done by DMPS to expedite the training and promotion of Captains?

6. What is the total of uniformed staff in the organogram, and how many vacancies exist as at 1 November 2011?

7. What is the total of Sergeants/Captain posts in the organogram, and how many vacancies exist as at 1 November 2011?

8. Why does the DMPS use a 12-hour shift?

9. Surely, given the shortage of officers, an 8-hour shift will greatly increase the number of officers available for duty at any one time?

10. Will the DMPS consider moving back to an 8-hour shift system?

11. How many applications to the DPP for new speeding sites have been made since January 2011?

Yours faithfully,

Councillor Warwick Chapman

–

Answers

Answers provided 31 January, 2012:

1. How many Metro Police Officers are indicated in the organogram under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

2. How many Metro Police Officers are presently employed under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

3. How many Captains are indicated in the organogram under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

4. How many Captains are presently employed under each of the 5 regional commanders: North, South, Inner West, Outer West, Central (incorporating CBD, Suburbs and Beach)?

5. If the answer to question .4 above indicates shortage in the number of Captains presently employed relative to those provided for in the organogram, what is being done by DMPS to expedite the training and promotion of Captains?

6. What is the total of uniformed staff in the organogram, and how many vacancies exist as at 01 November 2011?

Refer to the Durban Metro Police Organogram. The full DMPS organogram can be obtained by contacting the Senior HR Manager for Metro Police, Fire and Emergency Services
Mr M K Naidoo
E-mail: NaidooMonty@durban.gov.za
Telephone: 031 311 2968
Facsimile: 031 311 2909

Alternatively a hard copy can be obtained from DMPS Human Resources Offices based at the following address:
Human Resources Department
Room 339
2^nd Floor
Metropolitan Police Services Headquarters
16 Archie Gumede Place (formerly known as Old Fort Place)
Durban
4001

7. What is the total of Sergeants/Captain posts in the organogram, and how many vacancies exist as at 01 November 2011?

Refer to the Durban Metro Police organogram (see details above).

8. Why does the DMPS use a 12-hour shift?

In 2004, Metro Police Management decided to move from an 8 hour shift to a 12 hour shift. In order to satisfy the wishes of the Unions, regarding allowances and overtime, it was agreed that an Omnibus would be paid to each employee amounting to 17% of his salary. The agreement was signed by all parties.

In 2007, the Drakensburg agreement was signed between the Unions and Council Management. Part of the agreements was that the Omnibus was not going to be paid. Metro Police Management were not consulted on this issue but had to abide by the decision taken at Drakensberg.

9. Surely, given the shortage of Officers, an 8-hour shift will greatly increase the number of Officers available for duty at any one time?

This is being researched by the Treasury Department.

10. Will the DMPS consider moving back to an 8-hour shift system?

Awaiting response as per question 9 above.

11. How many applications to the DPP for new speeding sites have been made since January 2011?

20 sites.

@AnnetteLovemore – MP
@BenedictaVanMin – Cllr
@BrenvanderMerwe – Cllr
@ChrisHattinghDA – MPL
@Cilliers_Brink – Cllr
@CllrMack90 – Cllr
@DAJohniDA – Cllr
@DALimpopo (Desiree van der Walt) – MP
@DebbieSchafer – MP
@DKB20 – MP
@Elza_Van_Lingen – MP
@FredNelDA – MPL
@FrontLineGreg – MP
@GrahamGersbach – Cllr
@Grantpascoe – Cllr
@HlangananiGumbi – Cllr
@JFTerblanche – MP/L
@JackBloomDA – MPL
@JanetSemple1 – MPL
@Jo1Coetzee – Cllr
@LanceGreyling – MP
@LindiMazibuko – MP
@MaimaneAM – Cllr
@Makashule – Cllr
@MichaelWatersMP – MP
@NicoleGraham031 – Cllr
@PatriciaDeLille – Cllr
@PietervanDalen – MP
@RowanThiele – Cllr
@ShinnMarian – MP
@SizweMchunu – MPL
@SquireLees – MP
@StevensonBobby – MPL
@StuartPringle1 – Cllr

@alanwinde – MPL / MEC
@andrewseddie – Cllr
@brandontopham – Cllr
@brettherron – Cllr
@clrashor – Cllr
@davebryantct – Cllr
@deanwmacpherson – Cllr
@elmarielinde – Cllr
@gareth_morgan – MP
@geordinhl – MP
@helenzille – MPL / Premier
@henrokruger – Cllr
@ianneilson – Cllr
@ianollis – MP
@ivan2meyer – MPL
@jamesselfe3 – MP
@jsteenhuisen – MP
@kmileham – Cllr
@lanceweyer – Cllr
@mbalimcdust – Cllr
@mda_atwork – Cllr
@mikemo702 – MPL
@rosierau – Cllr
@rickcrouch – Cllr
@bevschafer – Cllr
@timharris – MP
@warwickchapman – Cllr
@wilmotjames – MP

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

–

The following describes how Gmail can be used as the single repository of mail despite us potentially having multiple mail accounts. The various benefits of this approach include: no backups needed, fast searching, no need for sorting or tagging into folders, single place to look for anything, integrated mail, calendaring and contacts accessible from multiple devices, and…

NOTE: Depending on your requirements either a free Gmail or free Google Hosted account (7G mailbox size) or a paid Google Pro Hosted Account (25G mailbox size for $50 per annum) is required to make this all work.

1. Put all your mails in one* place
Firstly, ensure that all mails from your current email addresses are collected in one place – your Google mailbox. This can be achieved either by configuring a forward on your existing accounts to immediately send any mail received by them to your Gmail account, or by using the POP facility in Gmail to pull the mails from those accounts into the Gmail account.

With the exception of my eThekwini Ward 33 email address, the rest of my mail, by far the bulk, goes into my Google Pro account – about 20G of it since 2000 archived and searchable in there – and the only stuff that’s been deleted are the forwarded funnies with large attachments. Everything else is all there.

For the super paranoid, there are tools out there that you can use to backup your Gmail account as well.

2. Use identities to send “as” your other accounts
Secondly, setup identities in Google Mail and use them to send mail from that account “as” your other email address(es). For example from my Google Pro account at thusa.net, I send mail and receive mail as:
xxx @ da.org.za
xyz @ da.org.za
xxx @ thusa.co.za
xxx @ chapman.org.za

Additionally, in the event that someone who should be mailing me on my eThekwini Ward 33 address gets me on any of the above, I ensure I can also send as ward33 @ ethekwini.org so that when I reply to such a mail any subsequent replies are routed to the correct mailbox for council-related issues.

3. Use the shared calendaring and contacts facility

Of massive benefit to me is the shared calendaring and contacts provided by Google. I maintain a council calendar (ward33) and a private calendar (thusa.net). They are both viewable from one another so the appointments inter-mingle, just in different colours. This is replicated on my BlackBerry and other devices and on the Google Mail web interface.

So if I add a contact on my BB while out of the office, it is immediately placed in my Google Contacts, and the same for calendar items, and vice-versa. So seamlessly, two things happen: (1) the contact or calendar appointment is added everywhere, and in the process (2) creates a backup so that should I lose any device I never lose any information. This applies to emails, contacts, calendar items, tasks and more.

4. Ditch fat desktop email programs
For most of the 2000′s I was a devoted Microsoft Outlook user. Even after I switched my primary OS from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu Linux, I still stuck with Outlook.

Eventually I made the switch from the very FAT Outlook client to the lightweight cloud-based Google Mail interface. It was quite an adjustment and forced a new and very productive way of thinking about email – and but I could *never* go back:
- searching is a schizzle, no more filing and folders;
- no more Outlook crashes and corrupt mailboxes;
- no more long waits while Outlook searches through the mailbox;
- no more slowdowns of the PC while outlook searches!

These reasons may well apply to every other local mail client (Thunderbird, Eudora, Groupwise, Outlook Express, …), though they will almost always be more efficient and stable than Outlook.

* If necessary maintain two (or more) Gmail accounts
In my case, as a ward councillor, I have reason to maintain two Gmail accounts, so that when I am replaced in my ward/council role (there are no guarantees in politics), the incoming councillor can take over my eThekwini Ward 33 mailbox and keep the history of the ward, its contact and its issues.

I used this configuration with my previous seat in eThekwini Ward 18 and it has made it very easy for me to hand over and assist the incoming councillor with issues during his first 6 months in office.

This is too technical for me!
Yes, some users will need help setting something like this up and ensuring existing accounts are consolidated into one, and then configuring the rest of the services and adding them to your other devices. But, actually it is all rather simple to do in the end and very simple to keep going.

Try it!

Ciao
Warwick

36/1/4/1/200900224
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO 2177
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNALQUESTION PAPER: 6 NOVEMBER 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 27- 2009)
Date reply submitted : 15 December 2009
Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) to ask the Minister of Police:
Whether the moratorium on recruiting new reservists will be lifted; if not, why not; ifso, when?

NW2883E

REPLY:

On Thursday 10 December 2009 the Minister of Police released a press statement informing people that the Moratorium on recruitment of reservists had been lifted.The lifting of this Moratorium will allow people who wish to volunteer their services on to assist the South African Police Service in the fight against crime to do so as long as they meet certain criteria laid down by the department.

Reply to question 2177 approved by Minister.

Then, in July 2010 I came upon a letter which explained to a Station Commander that while the moratorium had been lifted, it had actually not been lifted in practice. It is now over two years since the moratorium was lifted and still we are not recruiting reservists SAPS members to fight crime.

2010-07-28

The Station Commander
South African Police Services
Pinetown

Moratorium on Recruitment of Reservists : Question from Parliament by Ms D Kohler Barnard on 2009-11-06

1. Your minute 3/1/5/1/151 dated 2010-07-26 refers.

2. In the email requesting information on the subject matter received from the Pinetown Crime Prevention Commander it was not indicated that the matter was raised at a CPF meeting by Mr XXX and it was assumed that the CP Commander was making enquiries in order to expedite the recruitment of reservists, hence the brevity of the reply.

3. At a meeting held in Pretoria on 23 February this year between the Secretary to the Minister, M/s Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane and Brigadier Kennedy, the moratorium was discussed and it was made clear that despite the answer given in parliament and the subsequent Media Statement by the Minister, a decision had been taken by Division Visible Policing and Division Personnel Services that, pending the approval of the revised National Instruction and the completion of the necessary Naitonal Audit, recruiting and even reinstatement of ex members would of necessity remain on hold.

4. Subsequent to that meeting Brigadier Kennedy met with Brig J LeRoux, National Reservist Coordinator in the office of the National Commissioner had decided to impose a waiting period to allow for the conclusion of the Audit and publication of the revised National Instruction, before the lifting of the Moratorium would be confirmed by a letter from Divisional Commander, Personnel Services, whose office is the only instance who has the authority to make such a decision.

5. In view of the first-hand knowledge of these discussions, this office is of the opinion that the Minister is fully aware of the plans of National Head Office and the fear expressed by Station Commander XXX, in paragraph 7 of the above minute while understood and appreciated, is nevertheless not of consequence.

SIGNED
f/PROVINCIAL COMMISSIONER: KWAZULU-NATAL (Maj General)
B A NTANJANA S.O.E

I will be pressing our Shadow Minister of Police to pursue this issue with the new National Police Commissioner and ensure we start supplementing our regular force with reservists again as soon as is possible!

If you think the council is taking too long to fix the lights you reported, please feel free to escalate through me.

Email to: custocare@elec.durban.gov.za

“Dear CustoCare

Please attend to faulty street lights in Glenwood on pole numbers:
- 34, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22 and 20 on Nicolson Rd
- 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 36 Esther Roberts Rd

Regards
Warwick”

Today at 3pm the DA’s councillor in Cato Crest Hlanganani Gumbi and DA Spokesperson on Housing Cllr Warwick Chapman met with Mayor James Nxumalo to discuss the illegal threats of evictions in Cato Crest by the ward councillor and ANC Branch Executive Committee in the area. While the meeting was taking place, unknown to the DA or the Mayor, earthmoving machinery demolished 5 dwellings in Cato Crest.

Mayor Nxumalo and Chairperson for Human Settlements Cllr Nigel Gumede both unequivocally stated the evictions must be lawful and alternate accommodation must be provided. Mayor Nxumalo requested that the DA compile a formal complaint and submit it to the Muncipal Manager Mr Sbu Sithole as soon as possible and forward a copy to his office. He assured the DA that an investigation would take place from the City Manager’s office into how it is that a political structure of the ANC could be handling evictions and demolitions in Cato Crest.

The demolitions which were taking while the meeting was being held were undertaken under the supervision of the ward councillor’s assistant who is said by community members to have told them that, “We are coming here to show you that you must move”, and after demolishing the structures said, “Now you can call your DA.”

Cllr Gumbi, took affected residents to Cato Manor SAPS to lay charges relating to the demolition of their structures and destruction of property, however SAPS declined to open any cases. “We were told not to open new cases but instead to meet with the investigating officer Tuesday morning to include these charges in the existing case”, said Cllr Gumbi.

Cllr Gumbi has spend the better part of 48 hours working with community members to stop this illegal action. The SAPS have been extremely reluctant to enforce the law and prevent these illegal evictions. Only after senior MPs and MPLs intervened was any assistance from SAPS forthcoming. At the demolitions which took place today, SAPS did not respond.

The DA reiterates its full support for the eradication of shack settlements and the provision of formal housing in eThekwini. We however require that each step in the process of converting shack settlements into formal housing are undertaken lawfully and with respect for the dignity of those affected as a result. “We condemn the direct involvement of political structures in the work of our City government and cite it as a blatant example of the conflation of party and state”, said Cllr Chapman.

“We call on Mayor Nxumalo and City Manager Sbu Sithole to intervene as a matter of urgency and stop any further illegal action. SAPS also need to ensure they enforce the law without favour.”, said Cllr Gumbi.

MEDIA QUERIES:
Gumbi 076 288 8844
Chapman 083 7797 094

PHOTOS:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2327740/eThekwini/IMG-20120116-00131.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2327740/eThekwini/IMG-20120116-00132.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2327740/eThekwini/IMG-20120116-00133.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2327740/eThekwini/IMG-20120116-00134.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2327740/eThekwini/IMG-20120116-00135.jpg

ENDS