DA-run City is heartless
CAPETONIANS live in one of the world’s most beautiful cities – a city that we are incredibly proud of and whose culture flows in our veins. We regard it as our own with a heritage synonymous with the heritage and culture of the Cape.
The sad reality, however, is that the City of Cape Town has become elitist and its policies uncaring. The City under the DA has lost its soul. Cape Town is arguably the best run metro in South Africa, but it comes at the expense of its residents and often at the expense of the most vulnerable.
We are currently in one of the worst pandemics of contemporary times. We are supposedly in this together, but not according to the DA run City. Tourism drives the local economy and right now, tourism is on life support. The DA-run City is disconnecting the water supply of residents who have fallen on hard times.
Even the banks have softened their approach to debt arrears considering a situation not of our making – a humanitarian crisis– yet the DA disconnects the water.
The Cape Coloured Congress has a campaign of collecting the names of residents whose water has been disconnected, in order to explore some sort of action against the City for human rights abuse. I understand they are engaging the Human Rights Commission of SA to explore what action can be taken.
The City employs the best legal minds to ensure what it does is within the framework of the law. Its objective is not humanitarian, but money. They are the political party of the privileged, so they don’t understand what it means to be poor. The pandemic has hit the middle class hard so it is now also those who fall into the privilege category whose water is also being disconnected. Looking at some of the stories of people who are struggling without water is heart-breaking. Imagine your elderly parents, severely constrained by their age, with no support and without water. How about an elderly person on dialysis or a grandmother with small grandchildren that she is taking care of, without water. Many Mitchells Plain residents disconnected, go to neighbouring Joe Slovo, where the water is flowing freely and for free – no wonder our City has become so racially polarised. The DA-run administration is heartless.
Their fat cats earn millions in salaries just for collecting our money through taxes. Since the Day-zero scare they have been making billions off water. Yes, the municipality needs money to run but not in a way that is heartless and callous. The system needs to change because the DA is operating within the national framework.
They are clever and know how to use the system without ensnaring them in legal challenges. Water is a human right and must be freely available up to a reasonable consumption limit and residents must never be denied this resource that comes straight from God. MADINY DARRIES | Pinelands