DEAR Editor,-
The comment about the recent beach picnic in St Mike’s by the RNM spokesperson is, to be very polite, rather inane. Yes, the event was approved. However, the approval could not possibly override the municipal by-laws – or could it?
Do the municipality and its employees actually see the approval for such an event as giving all and sundry the right to do as they please, albeit “within the stipulated time-frames” as stated by Simon April?
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The reported drunkenness, urinating, littering and all the rest did not only occur on the beach at St Mike’s but, in and on the roads and verges leading to the beach. Law enforcement officers ignored all of the lawlessness. Why are they employed if this is their attitude to the functions that they are supposed to perform?
What about the rights of the residents, most of whom pay the rates, which lamentably are wasted on this kind of event and the overtime costs of law enforcers?
From the tone of the comment from the municipality, it would appear that ratepayers no longer have any rights in this regard and the question that arises is: What action do we take to prevent a recurrence.
New Year’s Day was a disaster. Our visitors left, vowing never to return. The drunkenness and debauchery could have been from some kind of epic ‘end of the world’ movie.
The so-called municipal police refused to take any action to stop criminal activity – never mind breaching of by-laws.
At least one of them used very crude and vulgar language by telling the complainant that it was New Year and that those people celebrating the event could do as they pleased? The SAPS were no better. By driving past and ignoring criminal acts, they thereby sanctioned the activities of all concerned. This so-called ‘Beach Picnic’ has merely reinforced the views formed after the New Year’s Day debacle.
What could and should have happened was that access control should have been put in place and, once all parking on the beach was full, the roads should have been closed off. However, this would have required municipal employees to make decisions that would have made them extremely unpopular. At the end of the day, they are paid to make the right decisions.
Perhaps a class civil action must be instituted against Ray Nkonyeni Municipality and individual employees and not only against Ugu? If they are compelled to pay their own costs, as well as the penalties or damages imposed by the courts, they may start to apply their minds to the performance of duties that they are paid to perform.
RI FRANCIS
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