Warwick Bruce Chapman

The eThekwini Municipality is simply not doing enough to stem asset losses due to cable theft. As I have explained before to this council, Cape Town has managed, through a well-resourced metals theft combating unit, strict enforcement, and now this initiative to reduce asset losses due to cable theft to a fraction of what it used to be.

There is no reason whatsoever why we should not be reproducing these successes in eThekwini. We are simply not interested in taking this issue seriously enough to muster the political will required to take the measures which have been shown to work in other parts of the country.

This proposal is quite simple. Given the extent of cable theft in our Metro, it is many orders more cost-effective to leave lights in certain high-theft areas on 24 hours to lower the risk of theft, than it is to replace that length of cable.

We can no longer sit back and do nothing about this economic growth sapping crime. I urge you to support this and any other initiatives which seek to reduce cable theft.

The eThekwini Municipality has, at great expense, installed a fibre optic network known as MetroFibre. Since its conceptual stage, MetroFibre has been envisaged as key to providing more cost effective and more accessible broadband services in the municipality’s attempt to bridge the so-called digital divide.

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.

The Local Government Systems Amendment Act (Act 7 of 2011) was signed into law by the President on 2 July 2011.

In March when it passed unanimously through Parliament the Acting Minister, giving us a hint of the importance that this legislation holds, said, “Local government will never be the same again. This Bill will open a new chapter in local government and help turn it around into a responsive, accountable, efficient and effective local government system that will help accelerate service delivery.”

The Departmental press release from April this year reads, “in some cases Municipalities … are staffed with employees who are not necessarily qualified to undertake their duties. It is for this reason that this Bill makes it mandatory for Municipalities to employ appropriately qualified and competent people.”

The Department goes on to say, “the … Act is aimed at professionalising local government for improved service delivery and performance management…”

National CoGTA Circular 19 of 2011 says of this Act that it “outlines government’s resolve to professionalise local public administration.”

Section 3 of the Amendment Act, (adding section 54A and amending section 56), provides strict new rules governing the appointment of municipal managers and managers directly accountable to municipal managers to the extent that “any contract of employment entered into between the municipality and [the appointed municipal manager or manager directly accountable to the municipal manager] is null and void if the appointed person does not have the prescribed skills, expertise, competences and qualifications…”

Section 5 of the Amendment Act (inserting a new section 56A), requires that a municipal manager or manager directly accountable to a municipal manager may not hold any political office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.

There can be little doubt that these changes seek to address the cancer of cadre deployment at the level of senior municipal management. For nearly 15 years now, political cadres have been deployed to positions of management regardless of qualifications. This Amendment now requires unambiguously that managers henceforth not be politically active and are qualified and able to perform the job at the level required for the turnaround of local government.

The states aims of this act include:

1. Professionalise local government by ensuring that the administrative apparatus of municipalities is staffed by appropriately qualified and competent persons to improve on service delivery.

2. Require employment contracts and performance agreements of municipal managers and managers directly accountable to municipal managers to be consistent with the uniform systems and procedures set nationally.

3. Prevent staff dismissed for serious misconduct (financial misconduct, corruption, fraud) from being re-employed in any municipality for 10 years. Other categories of misconduct now carry prescribed waiting or rehabilitation periods before a dismissed member may be re-employed.

4. Prevent the bloating of municipal administrations in areas that do not constitute the core business of municipalities by requiring municipalities to pass a staff establishment through council and only positions indicated on that establishment may be filled.

5. Amend the Code of Conduct for Councillors to make it illegal for councillors to vote in favour of a resolution which conflicts with any local government legislation.

There is little doubt that this legislation is a response to the ANC’s abysmal performance in Local Government. The opposition in this council has a responsibility to ensure that the measures taken in this Amendment Act are applied in this municipality henceforth.

NOTE: More information about the festival can be found at www.dglff.org.za.

John Adams, in an attempt to justify to his wife his extended absences from home, once famously said in a letter:

“I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, natural history and naval architecture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, tapestry, and porcelain.”

I believe the sentiment encapsulated in the quote speaks to the social progress we must experience in order to become the advanced society we dream of. In South Africa, however, this progress is somewhat more simultaneous than generational as it was in America.

Our history has bequeathed us a an unequal society where, where while a great many are fortunate enough to study and practice the arts, many others have not even had the opportunity of a quality education.

It is thus that our artistic expression so often has the opportunity of a finding context in our developing democracy.

I urge our artists to use your creative expression:
to highlight the many pressing issues facing our society;
to celebrate where we breakthrough;
to celebrate our diversity and reconciliation;
to build bridges between races, classes, cultures and religions;
and to motivate our communities to continue to contribute to building a truly prosperous and tolerant society

I am thrilled that this inaugural festival is taking place in Glenwood and I hope that it signals the growing popularity of this community as a flashpoint for arts and culture. Indeed, central to the plans for the regeneration and ongoing sustainable management of Bulwer Park is a open air amphitheatre able to seat 2000 people.

Personally, I cannot wait for the day when we can enjoy our first performance at the heart of this diverse and vibrant creative community.

Thank you Jason for inviting me, thank you for bringing this event to Glenwood and thank you to everyone involved in making this event and the films we will share possible. I look forward to next year’s event.

The Speaker
eThekwini Municipality
Councillor Logie Naidoo

NOTICE OF MOTION IN TERMS OF RULE OF ORDER 13

This council noting:

1. The public, political parties, civil society organizations, trade unions and the chamber of commerce have stated their opposition to the tolling of highways within eThekwini;

2. There is no single, safe, effective public transport system that would provide an alternative to the residents of eThekwini;

Resolves that:

1. Council declares its opposition to the proposed tolls within eThekwini;

2. Council directs the Mayor and Executive Committee to take steps to intervene on behalf of eThekwini residents against the tolls, by engaging SANRAL through the avenues afforded by the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act;

3. That, should SANRAL proceed with the tolling regardless of the engagement, that the metro interdict SANRAL from implementing tolling.

Proposer
WB Chapman

Seconder
A Beetge