Soccer bosses to tackle each other on Hout Bay

THREE bosses from the same football club in Hout Bay are set to face each other at the coming local elections, vying for the ward 74 councillor position.

Lee Smith from the Good Party, the chairperson of FC Hout Bay; Sydney Phillips from African Restoration Alliance, former chairperson of the soccer club; and ANC representative Fatima Samuels, the only female official, share a love for football and development of the Hout Bay area.

Smith has been a housing activist in the area for 10 years and through his activism had come to understand the issues the community was grappling with, especially lack of housing, high unemployment and crime.

Smith said understanding Ward 74 was crucial as the past two councillors failed to do anything, which resulted in violent protests going on for years.

“Here we have super rich, middle-class earners and the poverty stricken – all three of whom live in a single ward. Understanding that when the poor look at the situation in this ward we see themselves not being serviced, but can visibly see how others live, it is natural that it would enrage them.

“Compounded is the fact that the former and current ward councillors have no inclination to even have a community meeting with the residents. On the other side you do not want those living in the better-off areas to think you do care about them because they also face real issues,” he said.

Samuels said if elected, her role would be to ensure that the hard work in Hout Bay got done.

“I have lived in Hout Bay my whole life and I’ve seen how our beautiful village has changed through the years – becoming better for some and harder for others. I have seen first hand the damage that corruption has caused within Hout Bay and vow to root it out and be fully transparent in all aspects of our ward management,” she said.

Phillips, who said he does not have a political background, has been a pastor in the community for 30 years and has been running numerous development programmes.

“When I was approached by the African Restoration Alliance I accepted the challenge because I related to their policy of restoring municipalities. I might be running against my colleagues, standing for different political parties but our primary aim is to bring about change in Hout Bay,” he said.