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.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
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.
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.
Commend Tshwane workers for not supporting strike
DA commends Tshwane municipal workers
Cllr Brandon Topham
DA leader in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council
The Democratic Alliance commends municipal workers in the Tshwane Metro for chosing work over strike-action the past few weeks.
The strike called by the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) was largy a failure.
It points to a discord between union bosses and union members about the place of trade unions in society.
Recent research finding by Adcorp serve to confirm the decline of South Africa's highly politicised trade union movement.
Union membership has shrunk from 35.6% to 24.7% as a portion of all workers in the past decade, costing unions an estimated R990 million a year in lost membership fees.
This decline has coincided with the growing militancy of strike action, in part attributable to politically ambitious union bosses who have overplayed their hands.
The price of this militancy and political opportunism, including life-threatening and property-destroying violence, has proven to be too high for ordinary workers to bear.
The DA condemns the instances of intimidation and violence which still occurred during the strike.
But we are hopeful that union bosses will get the message sent by the majority of their members, and that further negotiations will improve working conditions more effectively than striking which serves no ones interests.
Cllr Brandon Topham
DA leader in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council
The Democratic Alliance commends municipal workers in the Tshwane Metro for chosing work over strike-action the past few weeks.
The strike called by the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) was largy a failure.
It points to a discord between union bosses and union members about the place of trade unions in society.
Recent research finding by Adcorp serve to confirm the decline of South Africa's highly politicised trade union movement.
Union membership has shrunk from 35.6% to 24.7% as a portion of all workers in the past decade, costing unions an estimated R990 million a year in lost membership fees.
This decline has coincided with the growing militancy of strike action, in part attributable to politically ambitious union bosses who have overplayed their hands.
The price of this militancy and political opportunism, including life-threatening and property-destroying violence, has proven to be too high for ordinary workers to bear.
The DA condemns the instances of intimidation and violence which still occurred during the strike.
But we are hopeful that union bosses will get the message sent by the majority of their members, and that further negotiations will improve working conditions more effectively than striking which serves no ones interests.
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