Proposed metro for Mossel Bay, George
I am responding to ex-DA councillor Flip du Plessis' letter of Friday, 11 May.
I commend the DA-led Mossel Bay Municipality on a job well done, however, I find it disappointing that one of their excouncillors went as far as to criticise not only the ACDP councillor Jeanette Gouws but as well, to belittle the leader of the ACDP, Pastor Kenneth Meshoe, by saying the party should have been dissolved after the 1994 elections.
Whether he likes it or not they are still around and are still doing a sterling work in Parliament, be it only with three representatives.
Ex-councillor Du Plessis needs to understand exactly what proportional representation means. It does not mean that the controlling party can make decisions without there being any input from the minority parties.
I believe the public is entitled to know of any misgivings and Councillor Gouws had not only the right to bring to attention any misgivings she might have but at the same time she had a responsibility to her voters to advise of any moves, be they right or wrong.
At this stage, I believe it is important to advise the public of the mooted merger of the municipalities and of any probable problem areas that might be experienced.
I believe most people are aware Mossel Bay Municipality is well-run and in good financial standing, however, many would not be aware of the standing of George Municipality especially as there would seem to have been some misgivings, with raids on the municipal offices by the Hawks.
Furthermore, my understanding is that by upgrading the two municipalities to a metro there would be some adjustment to salary structure which would cause additional expenditure and at the same time I would assume that certain duplication of positions would be done away with.
Which leadership would take up responsibility of leading the metro, or would the two municipalityies still continue to operate independently?
How is this likely to affect the proportional representation of the smaller parties, especially with the elections in the next year.
I would also like to know if there are any further proposals to merge, say Oudtshoorn, Knysna and so on in the near future.
I sincerely hope that this merger is not in order to bolster the George Municipality at the expense of Mossel Bay Municipality as was the case when the well-run Centurion Municipality was merged with Pretoria to from the Tshwane Metro.