Find below more photos of the abysmal state of toilets in Kwadabeka. These photos are supplied against the backdrop of the Toiletgate saga where the DA has been portrayed negatively despite providing far better toilets and enclosures than those depicted in the photos below.
I am becoming increasingly aware that most South Africans don’t full understand the structure of Government in South Africa and how our electoral system works. Below I have attempted to summarise this as best I can.
Government in South Africa comprises 3 separate but related spheres:
In Local Governments, half the councillors are directly elected to represent the people living in municipalities’s wards and the other half are “Proportional Representation” or PR councillors and are chosen by the party on the basis of the % the political party won. Thus there are twice as many councillors as there are wards in a municipality. Usually PR councillors are “deployed” to shadow the ward councillor in another ward with a view to winning the voters of that ward over in the next election.
Only in Local Government is any politician elected directly – ie. you vote for a person. In the rest of the spheres the political parties choose who will be appointed.
Thus, if a politician must be replaced in the Provincial or National spheres, the party just replaces them.
In the local sphere however, because ward councillors are directly elected, a by-election must take to allow the community to elect a new person to represent their community.
All SA reps are elected for 5 year terms.
Dear The ANC
There was a time during the liberation struggle when it was acceptable within your organisation for people like Robert McBride and Andrew Zondo to kill in the name of the fight for freedom. During that time also, your organisation sang songs promoting further violence against the racist white oppressors at whose hands so many black South Africans suffered.
The ANC and its Allies fought against a corrupt racist nationalist Government which believed in white supremacy and denigrated black South Africans in both legislation and language.
Our hard won democracy signalled the end of that struggle era and we were ushered into the miracle of the new South Africa under the leadership of Madiba and urged to work together to create a nation where all would prosper. Our Constitution and the rule of law no longer allows the ANC or any other person or organisation to accept violence or killing as a means to an end. Further outlawed was the legislation and hate speech which had been the main instruments of the Apartheid state’s oppressive regime.
How then can it be acceptable to the ANC that a struggle song which uses language of violence and racism should be allowed to be wheeled out of the pre-Democracy era museum and again performed to crowds by leaders as influential as the President of the ANC Youth League?
Nobody will soon forget that there was a song which included the words “dubulu ibhunu” (Ayesaba Amagwala), just as nobody will unfortunately soon forget that putrid K-word which was used to denigrate black South Africans. The fact that these two forms of hate speech should be banned out of use altogether does nothing to deny their previous existence and prominence.
The vacuum of decisive leadership and apparent lack of commitment to the letter and spirit of our non-racial democracy in the past months has left me wondering what the legacy of the ANC will be. Will the ANC be remembered as the liberators of South Africa and the architects of Africa’s first successful post-colonial society? Or, will they be remembered, as ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe will, as the creators of a kleptocracy which betrayed those people who fought and died in its name?
Those of us in the opposition find we are fighting what is now almost certainly a corrupt racist nationalist Government which believes in black supremacy and discriminates against white South Africans in legislation and now condones denigrating them in language too. Is this how you wish to be remembered?
I appeal to you to show leadership, reinforce the non-racial spirit of our democracy, and in the best interests of our future, reorientate your organisation such that your legacy is one you could be proud of when your great grandchildren ask about the ANC and the nation it united.
Yours in South Africa
Warwick Bruce Chapman
Note: ACSA have made a PDF available providing details of the new
Please find below a communique from ACSA regarding the pending switchover of operations from Durban International Airport in the South of Durban to the new King Shaka International Airport in the North.
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Please advise travellers that on 01 May 2010 the new King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) becomes operational for all Durban-bound air travel. The existing Durban International Airport will be decommissioned; although it may be used for a temporary period during the Soccer World Cup event if required.
All flights into Durban up to and including Friday 30 April 2010 will operate from the current airport. From 01 May 2010, all flights will officially operate out of the new airport which is located approximately 35 kilometers north of the city centre.
Please factor in extra time to get to and from KSIA and bear in mind that if you are travelling in one direction before 30 April and back after 01 May, that you may need a shuttle between the two airports.
SHUTTLE SERVICE
ACSA will provide a shuttle transfer between King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) and Durban International Airport (DIA) which will cover the cost for passengers that leave cars at DIA from 01 May for one week only.
Thereafter transportation between both airports will be for the passenger’s account and they will have to arrange transfers themselves.
Source:
Jacqueline Hooijberg
ACSA Durban Airport Manager
Coming out of the weekend ANC NEC meeting has been some supposedly tough talk from President Zuma and Jeff Radebe about the performance of local government officials and councillors. In 2009, the ANC correctly diagnosed their cadre deployment on steroids programme as being responsible for much of the poor performance at a local government level. Now in 2010, they have made a further startling revelation: what is needed is “implementation, implementation, implementation!” and monitoring to ensure it is taking place.
So what are they going to do about it? If you guessed “Summit” or Indaba”, you’re correct. They’re going to call a summit to discuss how to achieve this. Once again, this means more hot air and less getting down to the jobs we all need to, including those jobs which involve making sure other people are doing their jobs. So aside from the efforts of the few who do work hard and the opposition constantly applying pressure on the ANC to perform, the average man in the street is still going to be waiting for service delivery.
Local Government Elections are just around the corner in 2011. If our Government will not change their crooked and sluggish ways, voters must give them some food for thought at the polls and force them to change, or be changed. –Cllr Warwick Chapman