Letters – 25 April 2014

They should get jobs elsewhere

Prior to 1994, we did the job of town councillors for a stipend of R3000 per month. We were also on several committees, served on EXCO, finance, RDP, water affairs, health amenities and traffic and read no less than 200 pages of agenda items every month.
We spent time at other ratepayers meetings and provided positive input in matters concerning the performance of council. At least we were transparent to our constituents and dealt with all and every complaint or suggestion with enthusiasm and pride. All councillors were provided with details pertaining to monthly expenses and the town treasurer was answerable to all payments made in any month. There were only 10 councillors performing these functions.
Now to read that our municipal manager and his entourage are asking for more pay and doing less work intrigues me immensely (Directors demand stiff pay hike, Courier, April 18). The standard of work has diminished. The pot holes continue to come back because of the poor standard of workmanship, contracts have passed their sell-by date and remain unfinished (the road upgrade and Ballito interchange is a typical example) and the towns are looking tatty. The Ballito offices remain closed for an upgrade, no telephone contact details other than on cell phones not yet advertised to the ratepayers never mind the cost of calls.
And now we get to read that these directors are hard done by. My view is if they think they can do better elsewhere other than to be appointed by their cronies they should resign and find another job. You are never available to the ratepayers, you overcharge us for so called services provided, your meter readers are incapable of reading meters, our electricity has increased threefold since you have been around.
I definitely vote “No” for increases unless you can show your ratepayers that we are benefiting from the money we are contributing. To the so called directors and Mr Mdakane a definite “No” . Would you believe that the Town Clerk prior to 1994 earned a salary of R260 000 per annum. Today it’s iniquitous to see what government officials are earning despite the lack of transparency and obvious decline in service standards.

BRIAN CARR (ex councillor)
Ballito

Hope your next round is awesome!

My name is Nicholas Phipps; I am 11 years old and also play lots of golf.
My gran told me that you had played an excellent round of golf and then the next round was not so great. If you have an iPad, get somebody to film your swing and then you can download this program called V1 golf. You can choose which professional’s swing you would like yours to look like and then you can analyze your own swing to see where the problems are to fix them. Do you know about this program?
Hope your next round is awesome!

NICHOLAS PHIPPS
Ballito

Thanks Nicholas, I will do just that – Editor.

Wheelchair, anyone?

Anele is a delightful four year old from the rural area, full of smiles and eager to get outside and play with her friends.
Unfortunately she never will as she cannot walk. Despite numerous visits to clinics and hospitals nobody can help her.
She is in desperate need of a wheelchair and if possible a push chair with big wheels like the three wheelers mothers use when jogging with toddlers. If any readers have a second hand one that they could donate it would change her life!
Thank you.

JOHN E. GUY
johng@mailweb.co.za
Simbithi

When good men stay silent

The escalating criticism of President Zuma over the Nkandla scandal, hot on the heels of the Gupta scandal and Marikana disaster has, to some extent, deflected attention from the thousands of leaders in the ANC who remain silent as the voices of angry citizens grows louder.
Last week, some ex-ANC heavy weights in the form of Ronnie Kasrils and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, at last stood up and said “enough is enough”. Some time back Trevor Manuel, a senior politician and struggle hero, respected beyond the confines of the ANC, also, voiced his somewhat muted concern over the wrong turn the ANC was taking.
Why is it that so many good men and women in the ANC have stayed silent even when they know their president is simply not up to the task of leading by example? Is there no room in the ANC for different views, for individuals to voice their disapproval of events within the party without being ostracised as treasonous?
Perhaps the answer lies in the ANC’s emphasis on political collectivism (“Vertical collectivism is based on hierarchical structures of power and on moral and cultural conformity, and is therefore based on centralization and hierarchy.”)
In contrast liberal humanism, the philosophy that informs DA political ideology, allows a measure of individual freedom to contest and criticise leadership with impunity. The reversal of the DA’s position on the Equity Bill is a prime example of a ground swell objection to a decision taken by its parliamentary leader by ordinary party members and the consequent retraction of that decision by Helen Zille.
Whatever the reason for this deafening silence from people of principle within the ANC, the ANC is too important a part of our democracy to lose its moral compass now.
We may be in election mode where all sorts of vitriolic invective is acceptable in trying to win political power but in truth the ANC has done great things for this country. It has a profoundly moral basis to its ideology and has thousands of stalwarts who have suffered greatly to bring freedom to our people.
For the good of our country and for the continuing well-being of our democracy there is a great need for the ANC to be purged of those elements within its hierarchy that have failed to follow in the steps of Mandela and the other great exemplars of selfless service.
But the only way this purge will take place is if the electorate stands up and uses their vote to remind their elected leaders that the power the leaders have is only lent to them conditionally.
One must hope that the electorate will use their voice, for “all that evil needs to thrive is for good men to remain silent”.

TOM STOKES
Westville

Crocs lurking in Tongaat River

Care and diligence by security guardsI wonder if you can publish a story of goodness and helpfulness at Lifestyle.
I went to the ATM to deposit some cash, and while I was transacting, I chatted to the trusty Standard Bank security guy. I then left, in my car, and drove up onto the roof parking, where I got out, descended in the lift, and went to meet a friend at Zaras.
Another security guard came up to me, and told me I had left my card in the ATM machine. The Standard Bank guy had contacted the guard at the Zara end of Lifestyle. I am not sure how the second guy found me at Zara, as he did not come down in the lift with me.
I was so impressed with their care and their diligence.
FRAN JEX
Ballito