Green crusaders bite back
The ensuing barney was said to be heated, to say the least, with Mr Luthuli allegedly shouting: "I'm not your boy!"
HOW is it possible that not everyone agrees that safeguarding our environment should always be top priority?
It’s a no brainer for so many reasons, tourism – our very lifeblood – being only one of them.
Yet the responsible people at Umdoni Municipality (who shall not be named at this stage) seem to be treating this crucial duty with a distinct ‘ho-hum’ attitude, if a very irate green crusader Adrienne Edgson’s experiences this week are anything to go by.
Ms Edgson and her passionate team of fellow citizens were approached by Umdoni Municipality themselves to reinstate the former Environmental Watch Group.
It was apparently abandoned some years back, basically because of a lack of interest by Umdoni.
Now Umdoni has woken up to the fact that they are legally bound to by law to comply with numerous environmental protection measures.
So they approached Ms Edgson to revive the group to advise and help them.
It was all systems go and it was agreed that all parties were to get together on Monday afternoon.
Excited that something was going to be done at last, seven volunteers all turned up at the scheduled 2pm.
And from Umdoni’s side? No-one.
Eventually a few officials sauntered in late, citing excuses ranging from ‘imbizos’, and ‘PA forgot to remind them’ to ‘cell phone battery was flat’.
Understandably, Ms Edgson, who is certainly a formidable crusader to say the least, insisted on going right to the top to voice her wrath at this tardiness of officials.
She made an appointment with Municipal Manager Xolani Luthuli at 7.30am the very next day.
She arrived well in time and… he apparently refused to see her. Her blood then really boiled. She barged past the manager’s PA and stormed into his office.
The ensuing barney was said to be heated, to say the least, with Mr Luthuli allegedly shouting: “I’m not your boy!”
Eventually, everyone calmed down and it was finally agreed to re-convene and meet to plan the way forward this Friday.
Ms Edgson emphasised that it was crucial that all the relevant role players attend this meeting or they would miss the final council meeting of the year. Important environmental issues would then be put on the back burner once again.
Common sense dictates that Umdoni would be foolish to brush off professional help, advice and support of such enthusiastic volunteers from the community, let by a firebrand like Ms Edgson.
She even had a parting word for the Mail after she spoke to us yesterday: “If you !@#$ this up, you won’t see us again.”
Hopefully this story hasn’t done that because we are hoping to publish a regular column, inspired by Ms Edgson’s group, to make all of Umdoni more aware of just how important safeguarding our environment is.
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