DEAR Editor,-
I welcome the return of Cllr Ronnie Nair to the letters to the editor column. As we have come to expect, his letter contains lots of invective and little substance.
Looking at the invective first, he states that Cllr Doug Rawlins’s criticism of President Zuma and the ANC is banal, threadbare, paranoid, whingeing, and nauseous.
Moving on to substance, Cllr Nair states that the ANC’s majority support in the May national elections has dropped to 62 percent and that it is to be congratulated on this fine achievement. He fails to comment on why the ANC majority in Gauteng has dropped from 62 to 52 percent. He is silent about the paper-thin majorities of the ANC in the metros of Pretoria, Ekurhuleni and Port Elizabeth.
Perhaps Ronnie Nair is not aware that the main item on the agenda of the ANC National Executive Committee this week is local government. This is with particular reference to the metros with President Zuma, loudhailer speaker Baleka Mbete and general secretary Gwede Mantashe reportedly driving the issue.
Instead of dispensing free advice to other councillors, Ronnie Nair should advise himself about what is actually happening in his own party with its dwindling support being recognised by the ‘brains trust’ of the ANC, if not at local level.
More advice from the speaker of Hibiscus Coast Municipality is that the DA should take lessons from the ANC on constituency and people management. This is an odd thing to say when patently unsuitable and unqualified people are appointed by the ANC management to senior positions in local municipalities, much to the hindrance of service delivery.
Perhaps a little introspection of his own would not be out of place.
DAVE SNASHALL
