This budget with its tax increases is a failure and a disgrace

DEAR Cape Town Municipality,

Reading through your e-mail sent to all tax payers: “The City of Cape Town draft Budget 2018-2019 comment period is open”. All I see is tax increases right through, be it water or electricity.

This a blunt admission of an inability to plan, be creative & innovative. In a nutshell, all it shows is a total inability to MANAGE! It also shows the total incompetence of politicians when it comes to both the economy and highly technical issues.

The only thing that drives politicians is the next election. Hold on to power at any price! The wellbeing of the people is the least of their concerns, at least outside election periods…

Are the additional taxes, or increases to existing ones, going to bring us water or generate kW? No! All it’s doing, is to bring to their knees that fringe of the population that has, and will always pay: the middle class. But beware, keeping on plucking what you tend to believe is the fat goose, has its limits. This middle class is the one that drives the economy of the province at large, and the city in particular.

We, as citizens of this city, have made tremendous efforts to curb our water usage, let alone investing large amounts of money in grey water systems and other water storage. Is this how you thank us?

This country is a vast and wealthy country, provided one knows how to manage its resources in a sustainable manner. In a letter that I sent to the Cape Times, published on January18, I mentioned this, together with a couple of ideas (quoted hereunder). Open a public platform, listen to your people, get on board COMPETENT people such as economists, engineers, contractors as well as stakeholders such as farmers. You’d be surprised how creative a group of dedicated people can be! At this stage, allow me to quote Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

The water saga, like the electricity saga with the load shedding, are vivid examples of what precedes. The conclusion is that power must be given back to the people. The current political model has lasted a long time. Giving full power to one party, and then to one person within that same party, is wrong. Needless to go through the endless list of various political scandals, regardless of the party – it’s just a fact.

To conclude, this budget is a failure and a disgrace. I would highly recommend that you go back to square one and restudy this with more concerns for your people, regardless of their social background, race or gender.