Give DA-led coalition in the metro a break
EVERY day there are moans and groans about service delivery issues here in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole.
I wrote a letter shortly before the last municipal elections in which I warned about the “poisoned chalice” that the DA would inherit if it won the elections and took over the municipality.
Just how poisoned that chalice was, is evident with every new unearthing of corruption that comes to the surface.
It takes time to get rid of corrupt or unqualified people. There are procedures to be followed, especially if golden handshakes are to be prevented.
To recover monies from these dodgy dealings also takes time, especially if the dodgy people have friends in the Hawks or other local law enforcement.
Evidence and files can allegedly disappear for a small sum. Computers can be stolen and so it goes on.
Added to this is having to deal with an egotistical deputy mayor who seems to think that having only two seats in council gives him as much power as the mayor.
A poor choice for a deputy, like Jacob Zuma was a poor choice for a president, hindsight being the 100% science that it is.
To expect to fix the IPTS situation in a matter of months, given that it was under the supervision of the ANC for nearly five years, is unfair.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium debacle likewise was also established on the ANC watch and was nicely entrenched, so it is unfair to expect the DA to wave a magic wand and fix it. It will take cool heads and creative thinking to find ways to make this white elephant less of a cash gobbler.
The ANC government reneged on its promise to connect the city with the Nooitgedacht Dam, a move which has exacerbated our current water problems.
What did the ANC do about developing and employing plumbers to assist is reducing unemployment and water losses? Precisely nothing.
But at the end of the day, the municipality was cash-strapped when the DA-led coalition took it over.
While trying to recover monies from former employees and their pals, the municipality still has to pay its staff and its suppliers.
It needs money to do this and while the medicine may not always taste good, it is necessary to get the municipality healthy again. So to all you naysayers out there, especially those who still think that the DA is a “white party”, get real.
We are all in this together, black, white and coloured.
To fix in a matter of a year the ills of the previous 22 years of ANC mismanagement is a steep hill to climb, but already there are fruits appearing.
Look at the big picture, not the odd pothole or minor water leak or the (broken) light bulb.
When the DA-led coalition took over, the stores for maintenance of lights, roads and water issues were all but depleted.
Give it time and in a few years we will all be proud to live here in “Die Baai”.
Malcolm Dodds, Kunene Park, Port Elizabeth