Funds should help SA
CONGRATULATIONS to Alfred Mtsi and Xola Phakathi. I’m certain the people of Buffalo City Metro are delighted to have a brand new mayor and deputy because of their daily experience of the terrible consequences of poor service delivery, mismanagement, corruption and the politicisation of the municipality to the point where every vacant post becomes the terrain of a strong faction.
I am terribly sorry to tell you gentlemen, people are disillusioned and despondent.
You will no doubt remind our rank and file that resolutions and policies of a party can never be easily implemented in government because of other parties’ points of view. But I agree with those who say the ANC has no true contenders in BCM – the only people who will defeat the ANC are those in the ANC itself.
The UDM focuses on those who understand regional politics and rural terminology (a Xhosa region). And of course, the leader, Bantu Holomisa is grounded. And the DA may have some smart ladies and gentlemen in the region, very competent administratively, though not politically, but I doubt they can recruit ordinary people, drink coffee in a ghetto and start conversations without touching issues of social grants and groceries.
To the ANC’s new leadership who may be unfamiliar with the workings of local government, I would warn that the battlefield in the metro is far different from that of the relaxed legislature. It is so hot, factions are visible and people are restless. There is no diplomatic way of addressing issues all the time.
And the masses want drastic change and results. People are desperate for good governance. Oxford Street must retain its place as the pride of the CBD, not of a stream of filthy junk.
And when state funds are misappropriated the media will inform the public. They do so, not because they are intruders or hostile partners, but because they wish to ensure the line is drawn between the party and state because no one wants to be led by a mob. This will apply even if the UDM or DA takes over. In this context friends become political foes. I know Mr Mtsi, that you were a smart boxer and a good trade unionist, but this one is different. You go to bed with pills.
I’m worried Mr Mtsi, you are such a very nice person, I hope you will bring unity among the citizens in this region that you grew up in. — Thozamile Lunguza, East London I AM really disturbed by statements made by Fikile Mbalula, the Minister of Sports in regard to the recent allegations of a Safa-Fifa bribe scandal. He emphatically denies bribery and calls the cash transfer a contribution to the “African Diaspora Legacy Programme”.
No surprises that the ANC comrades in parliament jumped in to save one of their own, Danny Jordaan, the sacrificial lamb for Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. They quite often shield disgraced comrades.
The impression that the minister gave me was that black people in the Caribbean islands are desperately in need of development.
If that was the case why were funds not transferred from rich nations to assist the development of black people in those communities.
South Africa is a poor country with only the top public servants living in luxurious homes that cost exorbitant prices – at the taxpayers’ expense.
To take money from a poor country such as South Africa and contribute it to some socalled “African Diaspora Legacy Project” does not make sense to me.
Much like it does not make sense for a government to protect the expenditure of R250-million on one man’s house.