RENTALWATCH

WHO CAN CHARGE FOR ELECTRICITY?

WITH elections around the corner, the people suddenly matter.

Two weeks ago, DA leader Mmusi Maimane, MP John Steenhuisen and a DA entourage descended on Phoenix, kissing babies, courting us and drumming up support.

It is only during this time that we see them. After the elections, they disappear from the face of the Earth, only to appear at the next elections to garner votes.

I have lived in Phoenix for over 30 years. Our township is plagued by many problems. The drug trade and challenges facing patients at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Phoenix Community Health Centre and other clinics, are chronic problems.

Crime is out of control, taverns are popping up like mushrooms everywhere and prostitutes as young as 14 are openly plying their trade.

Our high electricity bills are driving us up the wall. A pensioner friend received a bill for R13 000 last year, his blood pressure shot up and he was unwell for almost a month.

My friend sells sweets at the local school to boost his meagre pension.

Overgrown bushes on vacant land and on verges are hardly cut. The list is endless.

But our DA public representatives, both MPs and councillors, appear to be blind and cannot see the problems and inconvenience that Phoenix residents face daily.

It would be presumptuous of the DA to assume that Indians in general would vote for the DA, as has been the tradition for a number of years.

The Indian electorate has now become more critical and cannot be duped into believing that their inclination will always be towards the DA.

I will not be voting for the DA. On election day, I will decide which other political party to vote for.