Comments are not politically correct

Dear Sir/madam – Our erstwhile mayor is cesuring the disclosure of information by municiple employees ie the municiple manager nogal, so that all comments are signed off by him to ensure they are politically correct

I think his comments in the press threatening Mr Pragasan Naidoo of Envic Data is certainly NOT politically correct, a person of his office should not be attacking people in the press, rather leave the whole process to the courts of law.

The Protection of State Information bill has not yet been passed by parliament!!!

Keith Mclean.

Response from Mayor, Afzul Rehman:

Firstly I need to clear up the issue of gagging the municipal manager. At no stage has that been said or even implied. The article in last weeks paper did not capture the spirit of the press briefing that was held in the mayors parlour, attended by myself as mayor, the municipal manager Mr Masange and the communications unit.

Any rational person, who understands governance, will know that the communications manager reports to the municipal manager, therefore he will have first bite at all queries coming from the media. All we are saying is that the queries should be responded to by the mm and his team and then seen by the office of the mayor to make sure that the political element of the council has it’s view on the matter.

The sensationalist nature of the article is proof that media should put queries in writing so that our discussions cannot be taken out of context! My “threat” to Mr Naidoo was not meant to be politically correct.

I take exception to anyone who implies that the municipality is riddled with corruption. We try our best to make certain that we abide by a certain level of ethics and will not be tarnished by people who use the term lightly. It takes years to build a reputation, and we will not have it destroyed by reckless comments.