Small things to reduce South African Taxation

There is no quick way to reduce your tax burden. In short tax planning involves a number of smaller things which we should all do as individuals.

1. Invest in a personal tax free savings account. Yes you may earn more after tax from paying off debt but you need a balance of cash savings available and the long term opportunity of maximising the tax free capital amount. Each year you need to make a contribution as the annual contribution is limited at this point to R33 000 with an accumulated lifetime limit of R500 000. Do this for yourself and your immediate family and grand children
2. Limit your Capital Gains tax by trying to use your annual Capital gains exemption, this is currently R40 000. Also bear in mind that you get an allowance from the slae of your primary residential property of up to R2 million. If you hold your home for 40 years you still only get R2 million. Thus upgrading every 10 years may be worth it to reclaim an additional R2 million.

Abuse of Discretion at Expense of Democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution.

At the Council meeting today, the Speaker curtailed and refused debate on proposed amendments to the City’s budget for the 2015/2016 year. We believe that this abuse of discretion was in conflict with the Constitution of South Africa which allows Councillors the right to participate and thus share the views of the residents which they represent in Council.
The budget regulates almost R33 Billion of residents money and a sham allowance was made for participatory democracy. The facts are as follows:
The 2015/2016 budget speech was delivered by the Executive Mayor at a special council meeting.  He took approximately 90 minutes to deliver the speech. The debate and discussion of the budget was deferred to a further special meeting. At this meeting a total time of 75 minutes was allocated for this purpose. Of this the DA was allowed 15 minutes.  20% of the total time. In addition the reply time of the Executive budget is unlimited. The DA have 82 of the 210 Councillors in the Metro which represent 39% of the total. The Speaker allowed these speaking allocation which was understood to be allowed as a discussion on the budget speech.  When the tabling of the actual IDP and Budget reports was made. She said that no debate would be allowed on the items other than the consideration of Amendments. On tabling an amendment, I as proposer was allowed to speak but the Speaker then refused to allow any other speakers on the amendment and put the item to the vote.
This allocation of time and subsequent refusal to allow debate on the tabled budget and proposed amendment, was done in terms of Rule 15 of the Rules and Orders By-Laws,2012. This rule states: “The procedures and the applicability of all the provisions of the Rules of Orders during the consideration of the budget by the Council will be dealt with in the discretion of the Speaker.”
Section 160 2 (b) and (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, prohibits the delegation of the approval of budgets or the imposition of rates and other taxes, levies and duties,  and insists that the Municipal Council only can take this decision. In addition at Section 160 3(a) requires a Majority of the Members of a Municipal Council must be present before a vote may be taken on any of these matters and must be approved by a Majority of Members not merely a majority of those present.
Section 160 (6) allows a Municipal Council the right to make by-laws which prescribe rules and orders for – (a) its internal arrangements; (b) its business and proceedings.  It is these rules which have been adopted by the Metropolitan Council of which Rule 15 above was used by the Speaker to limit the debate to such an extent that the Democratic Participatory core of the Constitution of South Africa has been overridden. These principles are clearly in acted in the Constitution at Section 160 (7) where a Municipal Council must conduct its business in an open manner. Further at Section 160 (8) the Constitution clearly spells out the intention that Members of a Municipal Council are entitled to participate in its proceedings in a manner that a) allows parties and interests reflected within the Council to be fairly represented, b) is consistent with democracy; and c) may be regulated by national legislation. It is thus too important to be overridden by a Local Government By-Law.
I submit that the Rule 15 of the By-Law which grants a discretion to the Speaker to determine procedures for debate can never be allowed to make a farce out of Democracy and the founding provisions of the South African Constitution for a multi-party system of democratic government to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness. Proper debate and discussion are at the core of what was intended in Section 152 (1) which states the object of local government is to provide for democratic and accountable government which encourages the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government.
The total Revenue Budget total R29 178 022 000. The total Capital budget amounts to R3 856 566 000. There are over 3 million residents whose lives are directly affected for the next 12 months as a result of this which is arguably the most important report adopted by a municipal council. This is supported by the numerous provisions in the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Constitution of South Africa which provides for the approval of a Municipal Budget.
The Budget of the city is not a trivial matter and can not be approved without proper debate. I believe that the limitation of debate is such a contravention of the principle and purpose set out in the Constitution and thus its limitation has brought the integrity of the vote into question. Members of the Municipal Council have not been provided with the inputs to allow them to exercise an informed decision and thus the vote of approval was taken in breech of the Constitution and should be set aside until adopted at a Special Council meeting where proper debate in terms of the Constitution has been allowed.
In the SAPOA vs Johannesburg Metropolitan Council case, the court indicated that disputes affecting the budget of a Metro should be heard before the budget is implemented or else the court has little power to unscramble the eggs. For this reason the dispute concerning the approval of the Tshwane Metropolitans 2015/2016 Medium Term Revenue Framework (The Budget) is a matter of extreme urgency as it becomes effective on 1 July 2015.
The DA will review our options in consultation with residents of the City but are angered at the rubber stamp approach been consistently applied to important issues by the Speaker of Council. Proper debate allows for Members of Council to hear the arguments which may prevent disastrous decision as was taken by the City despite the warnings of the DA in the contractual matter with PEU for Smart meters.  We have issued a demand to the City requesting that this Budget vote be re-tabled for proper discussion and re voting.

DE-COLOURISE MONEY FOR GROWTH TO TAKE PLACE

I have recently been involved with advising a local business regarding the manufacture of a new product line in South Africa. The manufacture process is extremely complicated, technically very advanced and involved a large capital commitment. Part of this capital commitment would be funded by the current shareholder and the lion share by a Foreign investor. The balance required a loan from a financial institution. The nature of this investment was such that only one of the  Government mandated institutions would be interested.

In the end the loan was not granted and the many jobs which would have been secured lost as a result of the Government requirements for a BEE shareholder. The foreigners laughed at the request and decided to set up the new operation offshore.  There are countless similar examples and each example costs our country large amounts of employment and other opportunities which are drastically needed.

Having re-read George Orwell’s Animal farm recently I was struck by the absurdity of the current approach to empowering previously disadvantaged South Africans. I am also certain that we are living on the Animal farm written in the 1950’s.

With no government solution, or realistic plan, in sight I am of the opinion that until we “De-colourise” money we are going to fail to provide the opportunities for business to create employment and thus stimulate the recovery of our economy. South Africans need to accept that money was made “round to go round”, and if we want it to come round to us in South Africa we need to ensure that the Free market economy is adopted so that we can focus on creating employment opportunities to give all South Africans the dignity of a job.

We do not support the budget because it is wrong

-       The budget presented is in no material way different ideologically from that of the previous budgets.  The DA can not fault the stated objectives of combatting poverty, unemployment and inequality. We applaud the increase in capital expenditure to be more in line with that proposed by our party in the past. Without the essential spend on infrastructure we can not hope to combat the many problems experienced by the residents of our Metro.

-       We must agree with the Mayor when he expresses concern on the failure of the past administration to actually spend the lower capital budgets. There is no point in budgeting and promising delivery and then inefficient departments hold the city and residents to ransom through failure to actually spend the budget.

-       It is the poor who suffer most from failed service delivery. It is the poor who rely most on the empty promises delivered in past budgets.

-       Thus we call on the current administration to wake up and realize that they have been in charge of the city budget and failed roll out of infrastructure for some time.

-       Thus I call on the Mayor to realize that when he says that a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step that the residents are unhappy that since 1994 we are still by implication taking this single step.

-       The residents who are protesting are tired of the pretty words and promised numbers. The giant problem of the Giant stadium is an internal problem, probably as a direct result of the tolerated, through non action, against corruption. Where is the promised report on where the money went and who benefited?

-       The residents who are not paying for services want jobs so that they have the dignity to pay for what they consume. The residents who are not paying and have to rely on handouts demand this administration to stop promising employment but to start to actually create employment opportunities.

-       The residents who are forced to demand social protection want to be treated with dignity and not wait months to actually get registered on the indigents register or housing waiting lists. We must improve this administration and stop promising we will register 150000 people but actually do it quickly and efficiently. The residents who pay also demand that this takes place so that the burden on the city is contained within the limits of our policy. Failure to register quickly allows users to exceed these limits with no later recourse due to ineffective administration on the part of the city.

-       The residents who actually pay their accounts faithfully on average the 50% of account holder, to this administration do not want to hear the Mayor in last years and this years budget saying that we must look after them as they, in the words of the Mayor, “Subsidise the cost of our social investment program. The residents want to be looked after. Not more promises.

-       The residents who pay demand the right to be treated fairly and efficiently. It is not even a joke any more that people can not hold a straight face and hears the words Customer Relationships when it comes to a phone call to this city to report or query a problem.

-        The residents demand their constitutional right to public participation. That does not mean paying lip service to this concept. If you view the final budget document received by some councilors, not myself who did not receive it, last night in the late evening, you will note that firstly the inputs from the public were not taken into account when considering the few changes made to the budget. They were administrative driven changes. We do not even know what these inputs were as the written submissions are not even made available to us and the report says they will be made available today?

-       The residents demand that their public representatives study and consider their inputs and the mechanics of this budget. None of the part time councilors in this council can honestly put up their hands and say that between last night and this morning they have been able study and properly consider this budget. None have been afforded the opportunity to perform their duty to apply their minds to this very important document.

-       Why are the inputs from the public not provided to Councillor’s in time to consider i.t.o. Section 23 of the Municipal Finance Management Act? Why Are documents delivered so late? Why does the ANC not want to live by the principles and intentions of the Constitution to create a participatory democracy? What is being hidden from the public?

-       The paying residents welcome the additional police vehicles and police officers.  Yet they are tired of being promised 10 metro officers in every ward for the last 3 years now. Even after the purchases budgeted for and the new police officers, we will still not have enough vehicles or officers to be able to deliver on this empty promise.

-       The residents demand that their metro police be properly skilled. We are dismayed by the continued lowering of standards to fill positions and create jobs for the sake of job creation. We demand these officers to be properly trained and qualified.

-       The budget fails to show us how we are going to improve on the poor debt collection in this city. Still no meaningful change to Customer service or in house debt collection is budgeted for. We must capacitate this vital area to ensure that all who must pay actually pay for their services. We are supportive of the pre-paid electricity plan and look forward to this being rolled out to entire city. I myself have already installed a prepaid meter and believe that this will greatly assist in managing our debtors going forward.

-       What happened to the 4% built into the electricity increases since 2009 which was meant to fund the upgrading of infrastructure? The money was spent on other things.

-       Our current budget can repair roads once in every 60 years or so and less than 50% of our roads are at an acceptable level?

-       Why have we budgeted for 5 times the residential tariff for Non permitted use when a recent court case said that this practice was non compliant with the Municipal Property Rates Act?

-       How can the ANC justify an almost 17% increase to the already high salary of the Municipal Manager?

-       The greatest failure of this budget is the failure to consider the guidelines of National Treasury or the parameters of the Municipal Property Rates Act.

-       The Act calls on the City to consider the ability of the community to pay for services received. Many submissions were submitted that the proposed tariffs are unaffordable. The City must consider the impact of inflation and other cost increases.

-       You do not need to be an economist to understand that we are in a very difficult financial period in the world and in this city. People are not able to afford Electricity, Water, Food, School fees and e-tolls and taxes.

-       Tariffs raised by the city affect the rich and poor and cross race boundaries.

-       We have a municipal cost index of 8.9% yet we are no where close to this in our proposed increases to residents. How did the city listen to these inputs during public participation process? NO we gave increase of 35% above this and almost 97% higher than Consumer Price Index. Most income earners will not receive increases any where close to this. That is unless you work in a senior position in this city of course. Perhaps that’s why the Mayor does not bother responding to the overwhelming number of complaints about the increase in a convincing manner?

-       It did not. The average of 12% is too much and the 25% for Waste is unacceptable due to the poor performance of this department and the reliance in the past on the Alternate Service Delivery program. We were always against this and now we have to pay for the problems created by outsourcing this vital service.

-       The residents rich and poor can not afford this budget .

-       If a household/ business can’t afford something the household or business must cut costs. The residents of this City can not afford the tariff increases but we do need the extended investment in infrastructure. Thus we have to balance the budget by means of cutting operational expenses. Cut the cloth to suit the budget. In this case the budget must be cut to suit the budget of the residents who pay.

-       We will prepare our own budget for the city which will ensure that capital expenditure is in place. We will ensure that promises of Title deed delivery becomes a reality and not just as in the past failed promises.

-       WE will deliver formal settlements around the city specifically to plot 1276 and 176 residents. We will deliver a solution to the congestion on the R80 faced by thousands f residents who travel from Soshanguve to Pretoria daily.

-       We will listen to residents and give them a budget which will be more affordable. This 12% increase comes on the back of high increases in the past and our City remains one of the most expensive cities to live in  in South Africa. One which does not even deliver a quid quo pro of good service or service delivery to the majority of residents.

-       The quotation by the Mayor of Karl Marx lamenting on Philosopher’s been stuck in reflection and contemplation in stead of taking action is very apt. This City has been stuck in reflection, contemplation and promises for a very long time. It is time to prepare a budget for the people and deliver for the people. Isn’t that what our Constitution demands from local government?

-       In short we do not support this budget as it is wrong. We do not support this budget as it is impractical. We do not support this budget as it is unrealistic and we do not support this budget as it is not a budget for the people but a budget for the Administration and the ego of the ANC.

Where is the freedom on the eve of Freedom day?

Where is the freedom on the eve of Freedom day?

What Freedom are we celebrating when real change and democracy has not been made? The day of the first democratic elections in South Africa is tarnished by the practices of the ruling party to ignore the principles enshrined in our Constitution.  In a council meeting on the eve of Freedom day, a report was presented without any notice where a biased committee with no independence or impartiality came to the conclusion that I be excluded from the Council for 60 days.

On Freedom day we should be able to celebrate the Constitutional right to a fair trial. We should be able to celebrate the fact that we are meant to live in a country where everyone has the right to have a dispute resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal. On Freedom day we should be able to celebrate the right to hear charges levied against you. We should be able to celebrate the right to be present when the trial is conducted. We should be able to celebrate the right of Appeal. We should be able to celebrate the right to just administrative action. But alas we do not.

These are only words written in a Constitution which are daily raped by their non application. What makes it worse is that all of the above rights were just ignored in this matter brought against me but when the matter was placed without notice on the Agenda to be debated, the ANC Speaker of Council decided to suspend debate and not even allow the person found guilty in their absence, to not be heard on being informed of the decision. Can you imagine what would happen if Employers were allowed to just dismiss employees and employees notified without any opportunity to respond , plead their case or offer evidence in mitigation? There would be a revolution.

Freedom can not be selectively applied. Freedom can not be paraded on the steps of the Union buildings on ceremonial days. Freedom requires daily application and to be part of the fibre of society but most importantly deeply embedded within the government.

Unfortunately apathy allowed the ANC to win the last local government elections with a 5% majority. We could be living in a city where the administration respects the constitution. But we are not. Apathy will allow the ANC to continue to erode our Constitution by small things which they do daily and then by larger efforts such as the attacks on the free press. Now we live in a City which does not respect the rights to participatory democracy and we must do all in our power to stop Apathy and be more proactive in changing South Africa to be a truly free country which respects our Constitution and all our histories and cultures.

Nuremburg told the world that it is justified to not listen to or respect a government or leaders who are immoral. I can not respect a government which ignores the Constitutional provisions which they so "freely" profess to live by. Our speaker is a Tyrant and can not respected. Unfortunately we can not even remove her as she wont allow to hear a motion of no confidence in her. We as citizens must find a way to fight for our freedom on Freedom day.

REBRANDING NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTION IN TSHWANE

NEWS MEDIA STATEMENT BY DA LEADER IN THE TSHWANE METRO COUNCIL, BRANDON TOPHAM: PRETORIA: 28 MARCH 2012

Response of Cllr Brandon Topham, DA leader in the Tshwane Metro Council, to 2012 Tshwane State of the City Address

Earlier this year Jack Bloom, DA leader in the Gauteng Legislature, aptly crowned Premier Nomvula Mokonyane as the “Queen of Promises”.  

In yesterday’s State of the City Address Tshwane Mayor Kgosientsho Ramokgopa earned himself the title as the Prince of Promises by continuing the provincial narrative of promises without practical follow through. 

The 'rebranding' of the city and the unveiling of a new city logo, although certainly aesthetically pleasant, is an example of how promises have become a substitute for action in Tshwane.

All the while the Metro is characterized by broken institutions, particularly the Tshwane Bus Service, the Tshwane Metro Police and the Client Services Centre.

With these institutions being unable to address the Metro’s most pressing issues, chances are that Tshwane will not be turned into an attractive destination for investment and job creation.

Entrepreneurs and businesses rely on a safe environment where people are connected to places of work and where infrastructure makes doing business easy and affordable.

If service delivery is to be rolled out to all, Tshwane also needs to commit itself seriously to the fight against cadre deployment and tenderpreneurship.

Without these conditions promises of job creating economic growth becomes empty, and rather cynical, political rhetoric.

The DA welcomes the Mayor's renewed promise to upgrade informal settlements like Brazzaville and Phomolong, which house some of the country’s poorest.

Tshwane's terrible distinction as the Metro with the worst access to sanitation, where one in five residents do not have access to proper toilets, necessitated action much, much earlier.

The DA is also delighted by the renewed focus on prepaid electricity meters, which empower residents in taking responsibility for consumption. 

We remain committed to contributing constructive solutions and to assist the Mayor in raising levels of service delivery to all Tshwane's residents.

THE STATE OF THE CITY

After years of mismanagement the Tshwane Bus Service is still dysfunctional, with many promises and acknowledgement of the problem by the Mayor, but yet no successful action.

Instead of promising a turnaround strategy for the Service, the Mayor should have heeded DA advice to appoint competent management and deal decisively with wildcat strikes.

While other Metros already have a functional Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, the blundering of the Tshwane Metro with a BRT system has left residents to cope with steadily worsening traffic congestion.

The promise of the Mayor's predecessor to deploy five Metro Police patrol cars with two officers each in every ward of the city seems far from being implemented.

The Tshwane Metro Police is seldom seen outside of the Pretoria city centre and have not contributed much to relieving severe congestion on routes like the R80 to Soshanguve.

The state of the Metro Police is hardly surprising given the fact that the Mayor chose not to rid the Metro Police command of deployed cadres like Ndumiso Jaca from the outset.

Although the city did receive a praiseworthy unqualified audit report, the emphasis of matter raised by the Auditor General (AG) has been poorly responded to by the Mayor and the ANC in Council.

Last month all ANC councillors in Tshwane, including the Mayor, shockingly voted against even considering a DA motion to open the Metro’s tender adjudications to public scrutiny – belying the Mayor’s commitment to be serious about fighting corruption.

The massive water and electricity losses due to leakages, also emphasised by the AG, is the result of years of neglect by the Metro to get on top of the city’s maintenance backlog.

This backlog has surely also contributed to the deterioration of the Rooiwal Sewage Works and the consequent pollution of the Apies River.

If the Metro cannot even complete routine maintenance upgrades and repairs, despite budgeting sufficient funds, it is difficult to imagine how its infrastructure programmes will contribute to job creation.

Lastly, the Metro's billing problems and the difficulty of ordinary residents to get hold of officials is to a large extent attributable to a Client Service Centre which does not work.

Residents still have to hold on for up to hours at a time to get through to the call centre and if this is achieved, receiving a 'reference number' is no guarantee that the problem will actually be attended to.
WHAT THE DA WOULD DO

If the DA were in power in Tshwane it would fast track the upgrading of informal settlements, take urgent steps to lessen the burden of Tshwane’s BRT bungle and fix broken service delivery institutions.

Tshwane Bus Service: the DA reiterates that the only way to establish a reliable and safe city bus service is to outsource the function to private operators.

This will enable the service to expand beyond its current limited ambit of the Pretoria city centre. It will also relieve the Metro, to some extent, of dealing with nagging labour disputes.

The DA will further relieve the congestion caused by Tshwane's BRT blunder by urgently constructing dedicated bus and taxi lanes on heavily congested routes like the R80.

The Tshwane Metro Police: the DA would commence a process to recruit a qualified, experienced and apolitical Metro Police Chief.

Not only does the training of Metro Police Officers have to be on par with those of the South African Police, a credible internal investigation unit needs to be re-established and supported by an accessible public complaints system.

The Metro Police is currently not fit for purpose, because it does not have the numbers and the equipment needed to do its job. Equipping the Metro Police should be an urgent capital budget priority.

Rooiwal Sewage Works: under a DA administration the maintenance and upgrading of infrastructure will not merely be a commitment but something which is constantly monitored.

We will never allow infrastructural management to deteriorate to the extent where the Rooiwal Sewage Works pollutes our rivers and places residents at risk of harm.

For this purpose the DA will conduct and publish an infrastructure audit, which will enable the Metro to stay on top of infrastructure needs.

Budgeting millions for infrastructure means very little if the Metro has neither the leadership nor the expertise to ensure that this money is optimally spent

Bid Adjudication Committee: a DA majority in the Tshwane Metro Council will open the body which awards the city's biggest contracts to members of the public, including the media.

Opening up obscure bureaucratic processes is the essential first step in countering corruption and the powerful vested interests which lurk behind it.

Client Service Centre: this service is woefully understaffed and under-skilled. At least 200 operators need to be employed to attend to service delivery queries in the call centre.

But it is not sufficient for operators to merely record complaints and generate reference numbers. These operators need to have the knowledge and skill to escalate complaints to the correct officials.

The DA will deliver a comprehensive response to the State of the City Address, with constructive policy proposals, on the 26 April sitting of the Tshwane Metro Council.

Who will police the Tshwane Metro Police?

A voice recording of a meeting between SEMU (Standards, Evaluation and Monitoring Specialised Unit) members and senior management of the Tshwane Metro Police on Tuesday, 6 March 2012, have become known.

In this recording crucial statements were made by the Political Head, MMC (Member of the Mayoral Committee) Terrance Mashego and the Acting Chief of Metro Police, Director KS Ngobeni, whereby they made it clear that SEMU, as of that week (last week), has been integrated into the Office of the Chief Audit Executive.

The following points are of importance:

1. This comes as a shock as no report has served before Council or the relevant Section 79 Committee to seek approval!

2. An initial report (end 2011) within the department stated that only the “reporting line” would have changed and the members would still have been metro police officers, investigating all matters within the metro not just metro police members, as has been the case until then.

3. The MMC’s voice can clearly be heard addressing the members of SEMU regarding their department being integrated into another, stating that “…only do functions within the act (SAPS Act), nothing more…” “…you will not raise your own choice in what you want to do, it’s unacceptable, it will not be allowed …”

4. The members were given only two options in said meeting namely,go to the Office of the Chief Audit Executive (and hereby lose your status as a Metro Police Officer) or stay and the Chief of Metro Police will redeploy you!

5. There is a duty on the employer to consult their employees on issues of mutual interest that will have an effect on the employment contracts of employees before final decisions are taken. Nothing of this nature took place! It is in fact not conductive to sound labour relations!

6. Until the date of the press statement, said SEMU members did not receive any written documentation, indicating their new positions or job description.

7. How can a Department and a political head decide on their own to take away employees titles without (a) approval and (b) consultation with the relevant employees?

8. It is important to note that ONLY METRO POLICE OFFICERS may investigate a Metro Police officer! In other words, no one will now investigate Metro Police Officers!

9. Until the date of the press statement, no proper confirmation could be obtained as to what will happen with the current investigation dockets or with new cases!

10. What does not make sense at all is the fact that nothing stopped council from using these metro police officers to investigate all departments within council. In fact, that would have been brilliant as they had the power! This new move now takes away all that power!

11. The DA cannot understand why this new move had to be done in such a rush without a proper investigation into the pros & cons and the necessary negotiations with the relevant officials!

12. Even the Unions objected to this move but it seems that they are blatantly ignored.

13. Tshwane will be the only Metro Police Department in SA without an internal investigations unit!

14. It is clear that the MMC, Terrance Mashego, interferes with the administration by his statements above. He is blatantly ignoring the Municipal Structures Act, indicating clearly under the Code of Conduct for Councillors, Section 11: “A councillor may not, except as provided by law (a) interfere in the management or administration of any department of the municipal council unless mandated by council”. Council gave no such mandate! Furthermore, the MMC is making statements in direct contrast to council policies!

All of the above cannot be ignored and therefore, the DA has to make its own assumption, that the move to integrate SEMU into another Department is to cover up the magnitude of corruption going on within the Metro Police by the ruling party!

The DA will not accept this decision regarding the future of SEMU and we will not accept the blatant interference of the MMC! We will therefore ask for an internal investigation by the Municipal Manager.

COMPILED BY:

COUNCILLOR KAREN MEYER

DA SPOKESPERSON : COMMUNITY SAFETY

TSHWANE METRO COUNCIL

(MOBILE: 082 3737 662)

Kicked out...again!

Today's obstruction of the no confidence vote in the Tswhane Speaker Cllr Morekane Mosupyoe by the Speaker herself is an assault on constitutional democracy and a worrying sign of things to come.

By refusing to vacate her seat in deciding to strike down the motion the Speaker offended one of the most basic tenants of natural justice: a person cannot be a judge in her own case.

It is no exaggeration that this term of the Council has produced the worst Speaker that Tshwane has had in its 12 year existence. Consequently the role of Council has never been as insignificant as now.

In her eight months in office Cllr Mosupyoe has destroyed her credibility as a fair, informed and efficient presiding officer of the local legislature.

She treats opposition councillors with complete disdain and abuses her powers to shut down debate and protect the city government from scrutiny.

The DA charge sheet against Cllr Mosupyoe, which should according to the Council Rules should have been discussed today, include the following:

·         The Speaker has descended into the arena of political contestation by using so-called ‘unopposed motions by the Speaker’ to prevent discussion on items of the Council’s agenda.

·         The Speaker has disregarded various requests by opposition councillors to have her rulings referred to the Council’s Rules and Ethics Committee, in contravention of Council Rules and Orders.

·         The Speaker has ignored important correspondence from councillors, deleting her emails before they are read, as well as three applications in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

·         The Speaker presided over the failed and unlawful 2012 ward committee elections in the city. A R7 million tender was awarded to publicise the elections, while this task could easily have been performed by staff in the Speaker’s office.

·         Audio transcripts of Council meetings have gone missing under the Speaker’s watch, and reasonable suspicion exists that the Speaker may have lied to Council about proof of service of important documents to Councillors.

By squashing the no confidence motion in the Tshwane Metro Council it seems the ANC's turn against the Constitution and an open society, evidenced by the Protection of State Information Bill and the Media Tribunal, is spilling over to local level.

The DA will not back down in our fight against the Speaker. The essence of our argument is the ability of DA Councillors to represent the 40% of Tshwane residents who voted for us. We can not adhere to instructions from a biased impartial autocrat and will continue until our constitutional rights to participatory democracy are respect.

DA TO CALL FOR VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN TSHWANE SPEAKER

The DA in the Tshwane Council is preparing a motion of no confidence in the Speaker of Council.

 

After months of fighting a Speaker who has little respect for debate and democratic process, and even less respect for her colleagues in the opposition benches, we have no other choice.

 

Today the Speaker had me removed from Council because I insisted on responding to her uncritical defence of the flawed and unlawful ward committee elections in Tshwane.

 

She delivered the defence, and took sideswipes at the DA’s criticism of the ward committee elections, in a report which she read to the Council.

 

She allowed no response to the report and tolerated no attempt to open a reasonable debate about its substance.

 

In this way she descended into the arena of political contestation, as has become her habit, and brought her office into disrepute.

 

The DA has had enough of Cllr Audrey Mosupyoe. We know her caucus will be instructed to support her, but believe that our best attempt at calling her to account is in a no confidence debate.

 

The DA will continue to fight for a valid and lawful ward committee election, and is considering various options in this respect. These committees are essential to participatory democracy (as is the ability to debate matters in Council).

 

The Metro’s turnabout on how the ward committee elections are constituted is flawed and does not give grounds to change our view regarding the validity of the election process.

 

Ward committee by-law bungled leading to invalidity of process

The Democratic Alliance in Tshwane has decided that it can not support the currently scheduled Ward committee elections. We are extremely disappointed that we have had to come to this decision as we feel that the election and proper functioning of these committees are vital to the functioning of an efficient city and play a vital role in bringing government closer to the people.

Despite attempts to get the office of the Mayor, City Manager and The Speakers office to recognise the invalidity of the scheduled elections on account of the by-law passed by council not yet being valid due to lack of promulgation, we have to date had no success. In addition to our notice of the invalidity for the ward committee by-law sent to the administration of the City, we have also addressed a letter to the Public Protector and the MEC for local government. These attempts to have the deficiency in the promulgation of the by-law rectified have failed due to no corrective action being taken. After all these avenues have been pursued unsuccessfully and after what appears to be the termination of the role of the Municipal Electoral Officer and presiding officers yesterday, we have come to the conclusion that it is in the Public interest that these invalid elections be stopped and that no legitimacy can be given to them. We and the public can under these circumstances not recognise any results from this bungled process. 

The Municipal Structures Act requires a Metropolitan Council in terms of Section 73 (3) of said Act to make rules regulating the procedure to elect members of Ward committees. The Municipal Council on 30 June 2011 passed a resolution adopting a by-law to regulate amongst others the election of Ward committees. The Municipal Systems Act in terms of Section 13 requires that before such a by-law can take effect it must be published promptly in the Provincial Gazette AND in any other practical way in order to bring the contents of the by-law to the attention of the local community. It further expressly states that the by-law can not take effect before such publication. It is now going on 7 months and this requirement for prompt publication is still not done. Mayor Ramokgopa has declared "War on small things" such as broken windows. We laud him for this initiative but beg him to not forget the big things such as making your city rules legal. The current administration is trying to build a 10 Storey building without any foundation. We can not allow our residents to go into this construction site as it is fraught with dangers and problems for the health of our city. However perhaps the Systems Act is not sufficient motive for our ANC administration to act upon. The Constitution of South Africa, Section 162, requires that a "Municipal by-law may be enforced only after it has been published in the official gazette of the relevant province." It states that a provincial official gazette must publish a municipal by-law upon request by the Municipality. The Constitution requires that municipal by-laws must be accessible to the public.

Unfortunately the problem gets worse. Not only have ward elections been called in terms of legislation which does not yet legally exist but the administration has also chosen to not comply fully with the proposed regulations. Various community groups who are required to be given specific notice of these elections have not been given notification other than what they may per chance have come across. We hope however that most body corporates etc. have seen these notices due to an apparent expensive notification process having in theory taken place. We believe that a cheap option of giving notices of these elections, on municipal accounts could have been done.  This would have been an effective way of communicating with all account holders and could have supplemented other notification methods. We are informed that almost R7 million has been set aside for Marketing of these invalid Ward elections through other media and yet, many residents are not aware of these scheduled ward committee elections despite this large ineffective process having apparently been undertaken. The total budget for the entire ward elections is alleged to be in the region of R14million and part of those costs are for electoral officers and other officials who were apparently relieved of their duties yesterday. We are especially concerned by these costs as we know what it costs the DA to fight a local government election recently and the amounts are no where close to R14 million. We are convinced that most residents saw our campaign. We will be calling for these costs of invalid ward committee elections to be considered wasteful and fruitless expenditure and call on the recovery of these costs from the officials and politicians responsible. 

We have been informed further that the Municipal Electoral Officer called off all ward committee elections until the many problems could be resolved. The Municipal Manager has informed us that he has in effect appointed himself as the Municipal Electoral Officer. Firstly this is not possible as only the IEC can appoint such an officer and even in the not yet promulgated by-law the MEO is defined as someone acting under the auspices of the IEC. This state of affairs has been confirmed to us by two senior sources within the IEC.

The second point to consider here is that the proposed not yet promulgated by-law requires the Municipal Electoral officer to publish with 30 days notice the names and Identity numbers of all electoral officers and to provide them with training. We who represent 40% or more of the residents in this City have never seen any such publication. Furthermore, presiding officers and officials with experience initially identified by the previous MEO were relieved of their duties yesterday. We thus find it impossible to consider how the City wishes to not only hold elections on the basis of incomplete legislation but also following procedures not in accord with Councils own proposed rules developed as required by the Municipal Structures Act. 

Our tasks as watchdogs of the administration requires that we must act in order to protect the residents of the city from invalid decisions which can costs the city large amounts in future legal disputes and delays due to challenges to the validity of the ward committees. We are resolved to act in the public interest to consider what ever measures may be necessary in order to prevent this tragedy of maladministration to continue.

Cllr. Brandon Topham

Leader of the DA in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council Caucus

No to city paid for political party

No” to public funded ANC bash

 

The DA in the Tshwane Metro Council today refused to sign a blank cheque to fund ANC centenary celebrations with taxpayers’ money next year.

In an astounding move the Speaker permitted a report from the Mayor to serve before council at her discretion basis proposing an elaborate celebration of the ANC’s existence.

The DA’s message, supported by smaller parties like Azapo and the PAC, was clear. The ANC is fee to celebrate its own existence, but it should foot the bill itself.

While many communities and residents in Tshwane enjoy no formal service delivery and no or poor infrastructure, it is disappointing that the ANC would rather use State funds to celebrate their birthday.


Many past heroes of the ANC are today also heroes of all South Africans and we recognise  their monumental contribution to democracy in South Africa but we refuse to accept the excuses tendered for this celebration. Millions of South Africans still have only been freed in title only but live as prisoners of poverty. All our funds must go to free these people and deliver improved services to all South Africans.

Diverting funds earmarked for service delivery in order to pay for a bash for the ruling party cannot be disguised as a way of honouring the heroes of the past.

The people of Tshwane will see it for what it really is: a way of shoring up ANC support ahead of the 2014 election and perhaps even an opportunity for one ANC faction to gain ground against another.

Mayor Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has agreed that the blanket approval sought was inappropriate and has undertaken to provide Council with more details. Unfortunately the ANC is firm in their resolve to conflate State and Party and we fear that this resolution will make a comeback at the next council.

The DA hopes that the ANC sees reason and ensures that their  centenary celebrations which interfere with the city’s budgetary priorities is placed in the trash can and funds for their party found elsewhere.  

Unanswered questions regardings Schubart park

STATEMENT BY CLLR BRANDON TOPHAM, DA LEADER IN THE TSHWANE METRO COUNCIL

 

Urgent motion to call city to account on Schubart Park

 

The DA will today propose an urgent motion (attached) to call the Executive Mayor of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to account for the city’s failure to plan for the evacuation and refurbishment of Schubart Park.

After years of dithering by successive administrations the housing complex was last week evacuated in haste, after residents set fire to one of the buildings in protest against the suspension of services.

In April the DA warned that Schubart Park was becoming an urban deathtrap and that the Municipality should, as a matter of urgency, regain control of the buildings from illegal landlord, drug lords and violent criminals.

The DA also highlighted the concerns of officials, who told us about the escalating health and safety risks within the complex. Sanitation had broken down and the buildings were being systematically stripped of infrastructure.  

The Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa downplayed the DA’s concerns. He also failed to comment on the substance of DA proposals to regain control of Schubart Park with least possible human suffering.

Soon after the DA won control of the ward in which Schubart Park is situated in the March municipal election, Cllr Sam Moimane submitted a petition of residents’ concerns, which the Municipality seems to have ignored. An opportunity was again squandered.   

The lip-service of successive ANC administrations in Tshwane can be traced back to 2008 after it became clear that urgent intervention was required to prevent Schubart Park from becoming a danger-zone:

·         In her 2008 Address then Executive Mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa said:

‘The occupants of Kruger Park and Schubart Park flats have been given a year’s notice to look for alternative rental during the period when these flats are to be renovated.’

·         In her 2010 Budget Speech Dr Ramokgopa once again said:

‘The Tshwane Housing Company remains an important vehicle that is fully owned by the Municipality for the advancement of our objective of providing affordable rental stock in the city. An amount of R40 million in the next financial year has been allocated among other things to finalise the upgrading of Schubart Park and Kruger Park.’

·         In his 2011 Budget Speech the current Executive Mayor said:
 ‘The Human Settlement and Housing Department will be allocated 18.11% of the capital budget. This will, in rand terms, translate into R576 million. A portion of these funds, R55 million to be exact, will be used to start the overdue upgrading of the Schubart Park and Kruger Park blocks of flats.’
These commitments were never fulfilled, instead the Municipality, through its complete lack of political resolve and leadership, put the lives of residents in Schubart Park and its surroundings in serious danger, only acting when an emergency was already at hand. 
The DA motion will ask the Mayor for a report about the failure of the current administration and its successors to fulfill its promises to secure and refurbish Schubart Park, and the adjoining complex Kruger Park, and how the Municipality intends providing housing to evictees who are still homeless.

Principle decision in protest over failure to allow proper consideration 25 August 2011

The DA in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality today made a principled decision to put all items which have not served before section 79 Oversight Committees, and resist the appalling arrogance of power displayed today.
The majority of the items involved decisions whether or not to alienate property which belongs to the municipality, some of which comprises massive tracks of land.
In the past this particular decision was only made after it had served before a committee of the Council and an in loco inspection by committee members.
None of these procedures were followed before the items served before Council and parts of the agenda were delivered only a day before the time of the Council meeting.
The principle which the DA insisted on today was that public representatives needed to apply their minds and properly deliberate issues which involve transactions of millions of rands.
We refuse to passively accede to decisions be imposed from Luthuli House or any other political structures outside of institution of constitutional and representative democracy. 
DA councillors could not in good conscience act as rubberstamps of the Executive Mayoral Committee and officials of the municipality, in simply supporting its recommendations.
Insisting on a vote on every issue before Council is not the DA’s first resort in addressing the dysfunctional reporting system which the municipality has adopted.
On various occasions we have discussed the issue with the ANC, both in and outside of oversight committees, and none of our objections have been responded to substantively.
We have emphasised that the reporting line renders oversight committees redundant and detracts from the ability of public representative to keep the city government to account and fulfil their constitutional duties.