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 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.

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.

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.

Why I now favour speed humps for road safety

As ward councillors we receive many requests for speed humps to be installed by residents worried about their safety and the safety of their families.

One of the requests I submitted recently was for a section of Clark Rd and I explained that between Manning and Bulwer, there is a Childrens Home, Student Residence and two Churches. As many ward councillors will know, the typical response goes something like this:

“Current Council Policy precludes the installation of speed humps on higher order roads” and “the accident record on this road is insufficient to meet the policy requirements”.

On the one hand there is merit to not adjusting the engineering of a road unless there is evidence that there are problems with it, the accident record. Instead, we should be able to rely on regular speed enforcement on our roads as a deterrent.

On the other hand, we know and need to accept at least for now, that our Metro Police are incapable are enforcing speeds on our roads. As I showed last year, Metro Police only have 50% of the staff they need, and I have confirmed that they only have 1 speed timing device for the entire Metro. So, as many have asked, must we always wait until people die before we change the engineering?

I remind council of the protests which took place last year in KwaMashu K-Section because residents were fed up with their children being killed and injured on Nkonjane Road while council stood by and threw the rule book at them.

I used to be firmly of the opinion that we must only change the engineering of our roads where there is a known problem shown in accident statistics, despite the efforts of our Metro police to enforce the rules of the road. Of late, however, I have grown weary of trying to inspire improved performance out of the Metro Police.

If we are honest with one another, we will accept that Metro Police are extremely efficient at issuing parking tickets and staging road blocks. However, active enforcement activities like speed enforcement, interception of wreckless drivers and drivers jumping lights or stops has all but ceased.

I am thus now firmly of the opinion that we need to take practical engineering measures to improve the safety of our residential roads on more roads than we have before. This means both more money and a change in policy.

I understand that a policy review has already been called for, and it is thus against this backdrop that I have tabled this Notice of Motion asking our officials to review the World Health Organisation’s “World report on road traffic injury prevention” and consider the recommendations while undertaking our policy review. Further, acknowledging that we need more engineering interventions, I have asked that the budget for traffic calming measures be doubled for the next financial year.

Thus, considering what I have put before you, I humbly ask for your support in this matter which affects each and every one of us.

Cllr Warwick Chapman | 083 7797 094

Last week, ahead of this council meeting, I emailed, phoned and SMSed the department head responsible for this project and asked him to make time available for me to get an update on the status of the project. I have received no reply. This is a repeat of my experience in 2010 as I attempted to prepare for the last time RMS/COINS appeared on the agenda. Again, it would appear that a municipal official is actively avoiding speaking to a councillor about RMS.

We are now being asked, for the first time as long as I have been a councillor, to approve an amount for the maintenance of COINS, which until now I believed was maintained in-house. This amount is significant, around 15% of last tranche of R77m we were forced to approve for the completion of RMS, and would not be necessary had we completed our RMS project on budget and on schedule.

In October 2010, I tabled a Notice of Motion[1], which required that “a monthly report be tabled at each Council meeting henceforth on progress towards the completion of the development and implementation of the system.”

The Motion was passed unanimously but no such reports have appeared on the agenda of any council meeting since then. As such I will write to the Speaker after this meeting requiring that this matter be comprehensively reported on at the next council meeting failing which the matter will be escalated to the MEC: COGTA.

Given the critical nature of the system to the proper functioning of the municipality’s financial system, we are forced to support this vote, but we do it under protest. I shall motivate to my colleagues that we setup a task team to urgently investigate the specific details pertaining to the RMS project and its progress. It is time now, after nearly 8 years and almost R500m that we complete and implement this project and start realising a return on investment for our ratepayers.

[1] 20101014-motion-rms

Welcome everyone to Gary and Shelley’s wedding. I am Warwick Chapman, known to most people here as Budgee. I have the good fortune of being a friend of both the bride and the groom, and the rather ominous responsibility of having introduced them to one another.

So on behalf of the bride and groom, I would like to thank all of you for having come up here to celebrate this day, especially those of you who knew that I’d be saying a few words – it’s very touching that you still decided to come.

The crucial role a best man must play on this important night is to provide accurate information about the groom such that everyone here has a good idea of just what Shelley has gotten herself into.

I thus thank you Gary for asking me to be your best man. It is a great privilege and I shall not disappoint. First, however, what I must do as a best man is make a heartfelt toast to two people without whom we would none of us would be here today. Hopefully as the night goes on, each of us will have a chance to spend some quality time with them. So I ask you to rise, and join me in toasting the bar staff.

We couldn’t do it without you guys. Thanks alot.

There are many things I can say about the man with the hairiest toes in the world, and a few things perhaps I shouldn’t. But before I tell you about this fella Shelley’s just married, let me propose a real toast to three smashing young ladies.

Lord Alfred Tennyson said simply that “A happy bridesmaid makes a happy bride.” Mary-Leigh and Nicole you two make a fine complement to our stunning bride tonight. I know she appreciates all the support you’ve given her over the last weeks and especially today. I could not possibly complete this toast without mentioning Deidre and that beautiful cong she sang in the chapel. Please rise and join me in toasting the Deidre and the bridesmaids.

More than just a few of us here tonight met GazziPuff 11 or 12 years ago at the University of Natal, Durban Rowing Club. There, being but a slight of a fellow, and a finicky technician in the bowseat, he earned himself the nick name – FairyG.

And who could forget the photo of Gaz published in a mainstream weekend newspaper, dressed in a tiger suit, his hand in a claw pose with the campest of growl expressions on his face. Accordingly, the paper misspelt his name “Gay” Ainsworth. So GazziPuff, even though you’re a FairyG and Gay – you’ve bagged yourself a gentle, intelligent and above all gorgeous wife and are now laughing in the face of these prophecies we wrote in your name. Good show.

Shelley, you no doubt have some idea what you’ve got yourself into, but for the benefit of those less familiar with the dirty details, let me share the sort of treatment Gary might come to expect from a wife. You see, Gary’s doting mother spoilt him as a child, as a teenager, and even as a grown man.

Many people thought us rowers nuts for dragging ourselves out of bed at 4am each day to go rowing. Gary’s mornings, however, were somewhat more comfortable. You see he’d be woken with a cup of tea, and a pair of pre-warmed socks thanks to his darling mother who couldn’t bear the thought of our Gaz getting cold feet. Well, Margaret, I’m pleased to say that your boy is married, and its now Shelley’s job to make the tea and warm the socks, though, perhaps it might just be the other way around!

Just whatever you do Shells, don’t wet his socks and put them in the freezer. You may end up with the fire brigade outside your door in a bad mood. Gaz, ever the prankster, at SA Student Sprint Champs about 100 years ago, found himself pranked and saddled with a hard, frozen pair of his trademark long rowing rugby socks. In a moment of sheer brilliance he decided the obvious solution was to heat them in the oven – sounds good right? – as long as you don’t go off to a fines meeting shortly thereafter and leave them in the oven to combust. Chop.

This is the same dude the Poms decide to make their Safety officer while he was working in the UK. Safety first Gaz. Shells, keep a leash on him, you never know what could go down. And whatever you do, never ever respond when Gary asks you to check if something smells funny. Not unless you want whatever it is he’s holding all over your face… that one never ever fails to amuse him.

Sure this man has matured over the years, but beware of the rare failure to be discrete. A fellow rowing friend, Caroline Reid, related to me an almost lost story of one of Gary’s first flings in varsity which unnerved him more than just a little. So concerned was our Gaz, that he confided in Cally that this lass “had gone from friend to psycho over just one kiss.” Unfortunately the lass was standing right behind him. Smooth dude.

For Gary’s Bachelor bash at Inanda Dam, we asked Shelley a set of questions about Gary. At the party, we put each question to Gary, and then compared with Shelley’s answer. A most illuminating exercise.

One of the questions asked whether Shelley knew that Gaz used to wear an Alice Band and if he still had this hair style would she have even given him a second glance?

Gary’s answer (granted he was properly trousered and full of confidence): “She would’ve loved it!”

Shells responded: “Yes I have actually seen photographic evidence from Lauren Carrol!!! Honestly if he was still sporting such fashion accessories when I met him ,we would not be here today. ”

Another question referred to Gary’s incessant whining, asking Shells on average how many times a night does he moan about something?

Gary’s reponse: None

Shelley’s reponse: He does tend to be a winger. If I had to give it a number I would say between two and three. Just tonight I have heard that he has a bite on his arm and that he hopes it won’t lead to tick bite fever (because he has had it three times before!) and that he also has a paper cut which is actually very sore!

Gary took his rowing very seriously at varsity, making up for his significant lack of height with spirit and commitment. Rowing itself aside, Gaz was the inspiration of the sense of humour department, president of the association of pranksters and fellow in the institute for inebriation induced creative dancing. He’s the sort of legend that makes fun times great.

Gary provided many notable figures in the rowing community with simpler, easier to remember names. One unfortunate fellow, who I had the pleasure of cover tackling into the Msunduzi for harassing one of our UND ladies, protested that I had wet his, and I quote, “10000 grand Diesel watch”. We all laughed at him heartily. Gary called him “Diesel watch guy” from that day forward. Others to suffer the misfortune of Gary’s programme of renaming were “Model boy”, “Big nostril dude”,

Gary lived with me for a year or so a couple of years ago. We were hopeless single people, and occasionally we did what hopeless single people do, and went to Billy the Bums for a burger and beer. We were wingmen, wallowing in our uselessness. These were good times.

There one night, we bumped into my dear old friend, and evidently also hopeless single person, Shelley Wright. At the moment, I decided that I was actually tired of Gary being in my house, holding me back, so I took it upon myself to inflict Gary on Shelley. Gary was instantly smitten. I cant be certain but I’m fairly sure that Shelley wasn’t. As we walked out, he said to me, “Soo… do you think I’ve got a chance? You know, she’s way outta my league.”

Naturally, I assured him Shells was keen as beans – of course I had no idea if she was – but it was my duty as wingman to say such things.

I am, however, sure of one thing. If there are such things, Gary, Shelley is in your league. Gaz, you are the consummate gentleman, quite possibly my most loyal and forgiving friend, you’re brutally honest, trustworthy and reliable. And you have the biggest BIG toe nail I’ve ever seen.

Shells, I’ve known you a few more years than Gaz – since Glenwood and Girls’ High days, through our beautiful friend Annie, who, incidentally, I also arranged to have married off to a rower.

Shelley, you are a gentle soul, caring, thoughtful and I know you love Gary dearly. I know you’ll take care of him and I have no doubt that he’s already devoted his life to loving and caring for you.

I wish your partnership endless love, good fortune, and despite the Pope’s recent comments, a great many children.

Could I ask you all to rise and toast the bride and groom.

All was set for a march today but I called off the march on Tuesday and called this meeting instead. I did this because marching today would have meant ignoring the seriousness with which the Provincial Commissioner’s office has taken our cry for help and the immediate steps taken to shore up the fight against crime in this area. We’ve all seen the extra vehicles and manpower, and we’ve all seen the choppers. We know they won’t be here for ever, but I for one sincerely appreciate the both the speed and scale of the response from the Commissioner to our pleas.

When I addressed you two weeks ago, the focus was on the efficiency and quality of the service provided by Pinetown SAPS. Since then, I have received information from anonymous members of Pinetown Police and from members of the public along two broad themes.

Firstly, Pinetown SAPS members have reinforced the assertion I made two weeks ago that morale is at rock bottom. Concerningly it has even been suggested that the proper training, development and support required to allow members to develop to their full potential has been stunted by what one Police member referred to as the Zama-PF dictatorship inside Pinetown SAPS. This is, of course, the man who is said to be the only station commander in the Province who refused to swear an oath that he commit himself to reduce crime in his Policing area.

Secondly, members of the public and anonymous SAPS members have provided me sufficient information to suggest that there are some serious irregularities, both procedural and financial which need to be stamped out. Wasted expenditure, wrongful arrests in order to intimidate business owners, refusing to create cases are but the tip of the iceberg I’m told.

National Commissioner Cele and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa have said some rather unambiguous things about corruption over the past months. Just yesterday Minister Mthethwa said his department is looking at having a corrupt-free police force by this time next year. He said that part of the plan to have a disciplined force with good standing in the community will include extending the period of training from six months to one year, starting with the next intake.

I would like to emphasise part of what the Minister said, “a disciplined force with good standing in the community”. We humbly request nothing less for Pinetown – a disciplined force with good standing in our community.

The minister says the next intake will be free from what he dubs as “cop tsotsi”, saying they want to ensure that the country has the type of police force with men and women who are upright and those who are going to protect the weak in communities.

We don’t want cop tsosti’s in Pinetown. We want dedicated, public servants who we can respect for the crucial role they play in our community. We want our station commander to have such good standing in our community that he is invited to school prizegiving dinners and special events as the honoured guest. We want our Policemen and women to serve as role models to the children they serve to protect.

Mr Deputy Commissioner, our Police Minister and the National Commissioner said also that “corrupt policemen need to be kicked out of the force” and that 54 police officers were arrested last month. If there are corrupt cops at Pinetown SAPS, please help this community and do the Minister’s willing and kick them out of the force!

After the string of horrific murders in the area over the past weeks, some community members started a group on Facebook called “Make CRIMETOWN, PINETOWN again!”. As per usual, I caught some flack from my political opponents who immediately chose their dog-eared race card and suggested that I was trying to get back the Pinetown of the bad old days.

Fortunately, the Minister of Police and the people of Pinetown seem to share the same sentiment. This week at the launch of the festive season anti-crime campaign in Gauteng, the Minister said: “We need Hillbrow and Berea to go back to the beautiful places where we used to live.”

This crusade by the people of Pinetown is not about the Pinetown of the bad old days; it is about making Pinetown in the new South Africa safe and pleasant to live in. It’s about making Pinetown safe and pleasant to live in for all South Africans who may choose to do so.

At the meeting two weeks ago in this hall on 24 October, Ken Goldstone, Deputy-Chair of the Pinetown CPF, and I each handed a memorandum to Brig. Sayer, the Pinetown Cluster Commander, for the attention of the Provincial Commissioner.

For the benefit of those who were not at the previous meeting, in brief, the memoranda requested the following:

The CPF memorandum which was compiled at the request of the Station Commander for the attention of provincial leadership of SAPS:
1. Shortage of trained and experienced detectives
2. Shortage of operational vehicles
3. Shortage of operational computers
4. The moratorium on the recruitment of reservists
5. The maintenance and cleanliness of the building

The memorandum I submitted on behalf of all those who were at the meeting on 24 October:
1. A replacement station commander who is empowered to sort Pinetown SAPS out
2. A renewed commitment from Pinetown SAPS to community policing
3. That the confusing delimitation of the CPF subfora in Pinetown be simplified
4. Lastly, in full “That Pinetown SAPS publicly commits itself to ensuring that every available Policeman and women will be committed to effectively discharging the responsibilities of the Police Service as laid out in the Constitution and the (Police) Act.

I thus ask you to welcome the (Deputy) Provincial Commissioner of Police to address us today in response to the issues laid out in the memoranda.

NOTE: Major-General Jula then handed over a written copy of the response which he went through for the benefit of those present at the meeting.

Willy Govender, multiple industry award winning CEO of Data World, well known backer of the ANC and head of the notorious eValuations ventured into a partnership in 2003 with Indian Enterprice Resource Planning company Ramco Systems. They jointly formed CityWorks in South Africa which went on to win the tender to provide the development platform and services for the Revenue Management System Project.

CityWorks then licensed an ERP development platform called Ramco VirtualWorks to build LOGOsoft, what we refer to as the RMS project.

Willy Govender’s client service motto is purported to be “make my customers look good”. eThekwini, and by extension his ANC, are not looking good.

The RMS development started in 2004 with an estimated cost to the ratepayer of R90-150m. At the time this council debated the issue, Cllr John Steenhuisen told our treasurer Krish Kumar that this development would hit R500m and still not go live. Mr Kumar dismissed the comments as sensational.

Look where we are now. In 2006, an additional R100.8m was provided to continue the project and the go-live date extended. In 2008, and an additional R157.2m was provided to continue the project and the go-live date extended. In 2010, we were asked to provide “up to” R77m more to ensure the completion of the project and the go-live date was extended to latest June 2011. That figure brings the total investment in this project by the City to R485m, just short of half a billion Rand.

During my last update in March this year, Cllr Tex Collins and I were assured the last major technical hurdle was the data migration from the old Coins system to the new LOGOsoft RMS system. We were at the time advised that this process was almost complete, and they indeed demonstrated by pulling my Metro Bill. We were assured that the next challenges related only to testing, training and rollout preparation.

On Monday, ahead of this council meeting, I phoned the department head responsible for this project, Bob Gangadaran and asked to to make time available for me to get an update on the status of the project. He said he would but I did not hear from him. This morning I phoned him at 07h30 and asked when it would be convenient to chat. He said after 8 and I called him at 8:24. A woman picked up the phone and then when I asked for Bob she cut the call. I called again and it rang off the hook. I sent Bob an SMS requesting that he call me urgently and he sent a reply protesting technical emergency. I draw this picture to illustrate the obvious: a municipal official is actively avoiding speaking to a councillor about RMS.

As a payer of eThekwini’s exhorbitant rates, as a councillor responsible for the proper governance of this City, I want to know where our R500m has gone and exactly what stage this development is at. This notice of motion seeks that Exco be provided an urgent and full update of the status of the project and that council be updated on a monthly basis of the progress of this development as it approaches the go-live date.

I would further call that a full forensic investigation be undertaken with the support of MPAC, to uncover any corruption, wasted expenditure and mismanagement involved in this project. Anonymous sources have provided several allegation of irregularities in this project and it is thus incumbent on the City to investigate.

In the interests of proper governance, I thus seek your approval thereof.

That is the petition which we all signed today.

There are people in this hall today who have come to CPF meetings and complained about the Police only to have me remind them that the CPF is a forum to work with our Police and not to complain about them.
Unfortunately, the reality unless the station commander takes community policing seriously, it is unlikely many of his staff will and thus, the CPF has, in reality, no teeth.

We go through the motions of subforum and mother body CPF meetings every single month – being presented statistics which confuse us by Policeman who often can’t answer our questions about them. Statistics are presented for a policing sector of which Pinetown has 3, while the forums represent parts of the Policing area demarcated along municipal lines. Why? Why aren’t our sub-fora aligned to the Policing sectors as they are everywhere else in the country so that when we listen to statistics in our meetings, they are relevant and thus useful in the ongoing fight against crime.

We’ve been through meeting after meeting of late, listening to our station commander presenting depressing figures relating to operational vehicles and numbers of policemen in service.

At last count, of 87 vehicles we’re supposed to have, 36 are available for service, and of 405 members of staff, we have 285 in service. Now if that’s not a crisis situation, then I don’t know what is. What I’d like to know though, is when the Pinetown SAPS is going to consider having only a third of its vehicles and two-thirds of its staff available to be a crisis. Instead what we see is the regular use of Pinetown SAPS vehicles at Checkers and other centres, being used for shopping. Just last week in half an hour, a vigilent resident managed to photographs 3 Pinetown SAPS vehicles being used for shopping in one centre.

In response to the capture of the gang responsible for this week’s tragedy, I’ve been asked by several journalists for comment. Capturing these murdering thugs will not bring back the young man who was just about to venture into the world. The first responsibility of the Police in South Africa, in our law, is to prevent crime. If I knew that Pinetown SAPS was doing everything in its power, using all the resources it has to prevent crimes like these happening, I might be more inclined to regard this sort of tragedy as one of those horrible realities of the world we live in today.

Instead, I wonder to myself just how different things could be in Pinetown and indeed the rest of our country if effective policing was the top priority of the Police and not an obsession with power, demographics and money.

Why is it that I can watch some Pinetown policeman drive down Hill St and the pirate DVD sellers and dagga peddlers do nothing, and yet if one of the few Policeman who is passionate about his job does the same thing, these guy scatter?

It seems to me that just because some of our Policeman have a job, doesn’t mean they necessarily want to do it. A resident recently reported to me witnessing two Pinetown Policemen not even getting out of their vehicles as fleeing criminals ran past them.

And what about the smash and grabs at the Hill St/Anderson intersection. Enough people have observed and understood the modus operandi of the criminals operating that area to understand where they hit and where they escape to. Is there a coordinated effort to crack this gang? I’ve heard of none and they certainly continue unabated.

Some might say that gone are the days when there was anything civil or service-related in the “civil service”. Well, I beg to differ on two scores: firstly, I am often embarrassed by the far from civil manner in which many of us speak to civil servants today and thus we are often the cause of the poor service we receive; secondly, I believe that there are many good examples of efficient, and friendly civil service all over the country – proof that it does exist and something that all other civil servants, including our station commander and his policemen and women, should aspire to.

I’ve recently been advised that there is an alarmingly high number of unlicensed firearms which travel through our Hill St/Anderson rank area on a daily basis. I am certain this is not news to SAPS Pinetown. Further, I am advised of the fact that business and residential burglaries are often facilitated by criminal elements within the taxi industry. So, then, when last did we see a major coordinated operation to cordon and search for these weapons, and intercept taxis facilitating burglaries in the area. I don’t know of any and nobody I have asked can remember such a thing since the time when the army used to be called in to assist with such operations.

I am assured that there are members of the taxi industry who are as infuriated by the out of control rate of crime in this area as our suburbian dwellers are. Minibus taxis provide a critical service to the economy of this country on a daily basis and very seldom do they deserve the reputation they have earned. It is my opinion that operators of taxis in the Pinetown are as crucial to community policing as any resident in this area.

Community policing is a partnership founded in the fact that we as members of the community have more eyes and ears than our Police do. Collectively, we see and hear everything that is happening in our community. No criminal can enter or leave Pinetown without someone seeing or hearing them. Structures like Community Policing Forums must ensure that communities know what to look out for, how to report it effectively and who to report it to.

Ideally, the CPF should be taken very seriously by the station commander and his relationship with the chairperson and executive of the CPF should inform the crime fighting strategy. In this instance, while not speaking for the CPF, as it has its own chair to do that, from my position as an ex-officio member of the executive, I am now firmly of the belief that we are regarded as an irritant to Pinetown SAPS and nothing more.

Quite simply, a working partnership requires both parties to take one another seriously. The last year has been spent resurrecting the Pinetown CPF after it was run into the ground by our station commander who protested that it did not represent the demographics of the people living in his policing area.

The Pinetown CPF now represents the demographics of the Pinetown policing area and yet I fear that it’s still not quite what the station commander wants. My distinct impression is that if we didn’t exist, he would be a far happier man and he could get on with whatever he does each day without the bother of a CPF.

Personally, I have had enough of waiting for this ‘partnership’ to bear fruit. The blunt truth is that Pinetown SAPS is on average a poorly led, poorly motivated and poorly trained group of Policeman who are failing the people of Pinetown.

For too long we have seen our crime statistics getting worse and worse, while at the same time realising that fewer and fewer people see the point in reporting crimes beyond the insurance requirement.

The few good men and women working in Pinetown SAPS appear to given a hard time purely because they are interested in working hard and protecting the citizens they serve. When a station’s leadership is intent on doing nothing, those incessant individuals who insist on doing something become an irritation. The morale of some of these excellent Policemen and women is at rock bottom.

Our present station commander joined Pinetown SAPS in January 2007, nearly 4 years ago. One of his first actions was to do away with the very effective bike unit without consulting the CPF. Shortly thereafter he instructed the CPF to postpone their AGM and then held an AGM of his own on the same night, notifying the old CPF that he no longer recognised them – effectively terminating a 15 year existence on a whim.

In the CrimeZero magazine of 14 September, Brig. Zama wrote the following of the Pinetown CPF:
“Pinetown SAPS has a well established Community Police Forum Executive Committee which does not only represent the demographics of our policing area but is representative of levels of the community we serve through the Community Police Sub-Forums. There is a total of five sub-forums representing three sectors established in terms of SAPS Sector Policing policy. It is through these forums that SAPS Pinetown enjoys sound relationships with the business sector, security companies, religious leaders, local NGO’s, councillors and various other government departments.”

This description is exceptionally optimistic. At the September CPF meeting, when a memorandum handed to Zama was being responded to, the Cluster Chairperson Mr Sibaca was present. Councillor Esther Bawden and myself were the only councillors present. After the meeting Mr Sibaca spoke to me and his words were, “We need more councillors like you who attend these meetings. Please try get the other councillors to attend.” I explained to him that the only councillors in the area who attend CPF meetings were Cllr Jean Lindsay, Cllr Esther Bawden and myself and that try as we might we could not get Cllr Nelly Nyanisa from Ward 21, Cllr Stanley Buthelezi from Ward 16 and Cllr Derek Dimba from Ward 15 to attend.

I personally phoned and reminded each of those councillors of the October meeting during the week before the meeting. None of them attended. So Brig. Zama is left with an IFP and two DA councillors attending his CPF meetings – and unfortunately we are not at all representative of the demographics of our policing area. Further, to my knowledge spare for the odd appearance of a representative from an NGO, I cannot agree that business, security companies, religious leaders and NGO’s let alone other government departments are represented in the CPF meetings.

Further, in terms of Sector Policing policy, SAPS is required to structure its activities in order to implement Community Policing.

SAPS summarises the purpose of sector policing as follows:
- Perform targeted visible police patrols
- Ensure a rapid response to complaints
- Address crime generators
- Investigate reported cases
- Provide a localized policing service to the community in accordance with their respective needs

Can we honestly say that Pinetown SAPS has functioning, let alone effective sector and community policing? For one, I do not know how you do enough visible patrols in a sector if you have only one or two patrol vehicles allocated per sector as is presently the case.

Can we say we receive a rapid response to complaints? I’ve heard enough reports to suggest that’s not often enough the case. Besides, how can Pinetown SAPS provide a rapid response if two-thirds of its vehicles are out of service?

Can we properly investigate reported cases? Well if the station commander’s own view of his detectives is anything to go by, I’d suggest not. At a recent CPF meeting, he described more than half his detectives as being “incapable of expressing themselves in words, let alone investigating crime”.

For months, we have been asking for the incidence of crime in the policing area to be mapped. How do you provide localised policing if you aren’t constantly keeping track of where crimes are taking place in your area?

Are we sure that as a community, we’re doing the job required of us to make this partnership work?

The SAPS require that the community does the following:
- Attend the Community Police Sub Forum meetings to discuss action plans with the sector commander in order to deal with crime in the sector
- Participate in neighborhood initiatives to safeguard the area in which they live, work and play
- To take ownership of community policing and support the SAPS in the enforcement of the law

I can assure you that we attend all meetings, we’re establishing neighbourhood initiatives all over the area, having recently established our tenth neighbourhood watch, and we push the community policing concept as publicly as we can. Unfortunately supporting SAPS in the enforcement of the law and as well as discussing action plans requires some active buy-in from the Police. We very seldom have our sector commanders at our sub-forum meetings. We most certainly do not get to discuss any action plans, strategy or initiatives to ensure enforcement of the law – as this is just not within the ambit of the space the CPF currently is provided at Pinetown SAPS.

Lastly, structures for community involvement in Policing are listed as including:
- Reservists (SAPS)
- CPF (SAPS Act)
- Neighborhood Watches

Many of you will be aware that there is a moratorium in place on the recruitment of Police reservists despite a public pronouncement a year ago by the Minister of Police that it had been lifted. A recently parliamentary question confirmed that no reservists whatsoever were recruited anywhere around the country last year and very few the year before, and yet they are listed at the top of the list of structures for community involvement in Policing.

Our constitution, the supreme law of our land, requires that:
- (ss 198 a. ) “National security must reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life”; and
- (ss 205 (2)) National legislation must establish the powers and functions of the police service and must enable the police service to discharge its responsibilities effectively, taking into account the requirements of the provinces.;
- (ss 205 (3)) The objects of the police service are to prevent, combat and investigate crime, to maintain public order, to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property, and to uphold and enforce the law.

In line with this legislation, we have the right to a Pinetown SAPS which is a competently led, well motivated and well trained such that they may “effectively” prevent, combat and investigate crime for the people of Pinetown.

I can no longer say with confidence to the people who ask me what I am doing about crime that working with the CPF, we will manage to straighten things at Pinetown SAPS out. My recommendation is that SAPS find somewhere suitable for our station commander to put his considerable experience as a Policeman to better use, preferably in an environment where he is not required to interact with a community or a community policing forum.

We need a policeman dedicated to fighting crime, dedicated to serving our community and committed to working with us to turn the tide against crime to take over as commander of the Pinetown SAPS. I can think of a few candidates already – excellent police officers working in terrible conditions in the Pinetown Police Station at present.

I am no longer willing to accept a dysfunctional Pinetown SAPS. I am no longer willing to accept that a handful of excellent and committed policeman have to carry the load for everyone else. The time has come to deliver and the order is a functional, efficient and well resourced police station in Pinetown to serve all who reside in this policing area. We must not rest until we see the change we need.

Today, Brig. James Sayer, the commander of the Pinetown Cluster of Police stations has been mandated by the Provincial Commissioner of Police to accept a memorandum from the Pinetown CPF and the people of Pinetown. I have taken the liberty of compiling a memorandum for Brig. Sayer which I believe encapsulates the essence of the problem in Pinetown.

It reads as follows:

As the elected public representative for most of the Pinetown area, and one of the only 3 councillors in the Pinetown policing area who actively participate in community policing structures, I hereby submit the following memorandum.

The partnership between the Pinetown SAPS, notably the station commander, and the CPF and community as a whole may exist, but it exists only to the extent required to fulfil the legal mandate. In practice, there is no collaborative effort between Pinetown SAPS and the community it serves to fight crime.

I believe these issues are serious enough that the response to this and the CPF memorandum be delivered in person. I thus, request that the above the responded to in the form of an address at a Public Meeting at a venue to be announced on Sunday 7 November, 2010.

Right, now having said and done what we believe is required to get the change we need in Pinetown. I need to ensure that we all understand that we may not get what we believe we need and in the interim, we’ll still have a crippled Pinetown SAPS to deal with.

I thus appeal to all of you to recognise that it is the place and responsibility of the SAPS to protect us and they are the ones we should call on when we are in need. This meeting does not serve as a call for vigilantism or taking the law into our own hands.

We must continue to commit ourselves to building our own community policing structures such as neighbourhood watches, and ensuring we have as good a working relationship with SAPS as we can achieve. We must identify those excellent Policeman within our community and we must support them with everything we can.

I thank you all for coming here today. I thank you for your activism.