RESPONSE: STATE OF
THE CITY ADDRESS
17 February 2006
Mr Speaker, thank you The Mayor quoted the Mozambican
poet, Marcelino dos Santos, saying "Our land is open to the frank
embrace of hope." We agree with you, Mr Mayor! We would however like to add a
quotation from the hymn writer "My life is in You, Lord; My strength is
in You, Lord; my hope is in You, Lord..." Many, seemingly insurmountable
issues face us in this beautiful city and in the nation of South
Africa. The Mayor mentioned a few in his speech * the HIV/ AIDS pandemic, which threatens to wipe out millions of our people; * the high crime rate which affects every South African and severely limits economic growth; * the unemployment rate which is
not decreasing fast enough and is the main cause of hopelessness for
many of our people. The Mayor said that 41,6% of South Africans were
unemployed in 2004, and 27,3% of the people in the Tshwane Metro. That
means 1 out of 4 job seekers cannot find work, Mr Speaker! How do we bring hope to the sick;
to the victims of crime - as well as those who live in fear because of
the threat of crime; and to those who are unable to find work? Humanly
speaking, the problems seem so huge, that one can easily lose hope. The ACDP believes that the only way
to successfully deal with the major issues of our time, is to put our
hope in Almighty God. It is only with His blessing and as we apply His
principles that we can turn the tide and bring the prosperity that this
City and this Nation so desperately needs. The President, Mr Mbeki, in his
State of the Nation address, quoted from the Prophet Isaiah, saying
that we shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The ACDP
expressed the hope that he would continue to seek for answers in God's
Word. Reflecting now on the last five
years since we took office as the first Council of the Tshwane
Metropolitan Municipality, and as this is the last State of the City
debate of our term, we see positive achievements, but also many issues
and challenges that still have to be dealt with. It has been a good achievement to
integrate the 13 previous local authorities under the umbrella of the
Tshwane Metro. However, after the initial excitement and energy which
went into the amalgamation, we seem to have lost momentum. The Mayor, and this ANC-led council
implemented "transformation" as a top priority. In the process they
discarded many valuable, skilled people and as a result Service
Delivery to our communities has suffered. We believe that the
appointment of the first Municipal Manager and the subsequent
termination of his contract; the saga surrounding the previous Metro
Police chief and his early departure are direct results of the ruling
Party's over-eagerness in this regard. The allegations of racial bias and
discrimination in the Electricity Department should be seen against the
backdrop of frequent power failures and the unreliability of the
electricity network. We cannot afford to lose these valuable skills and
in the process lose the capacity to deliver services to our communities
and businesses. We've said it before, but we'll say it again - stable
electrical power to business is crucial for job creation. The ACDP is not opposed to
Affirmative Action or BEE - to correct the imbalances of the past. We
do however say that we should implement a sunset clause, which will
level the playing field once certain targets are met. We should also bring back those with the necessary skills to help us take the City forward. One wonders if the current problems
with the billing system could have been avoided if more of our skilled
financial professionals had remained in the Finance Department. Mr Speaker, the Mayor has boasted
about the number of job opportunities that have been created by the
Metro. That is nothing to boast about! When we amalgamated the previous
municipalities, we should have used the opportunity to cut the number
of jobs, not increase them! Government is not an employment agency. It
is government's role to create an environment and establish
infrastructure which will enable business to create jobs. This municipality must become more
business focussed. We have clients - our residents and ratepayers - and
we have to serve them and respect them as clients. We are not doing
them a favour when we help them, they are the very reason for our
existence! Customer care must be further improved as one of our highest
priorities. Crime is another area of major
concern. Here too, the ruling party has failed the people.
Why did it take almost 5 years to implement the CCTV system in the
inner city? Is the ANC really serious about crime? Mr Speaker, the Mayor spoke about
development of the townships, saying that Olievenhoutbosch "is a
dignified area with a variety of facilities" The ACDP
acknowledges that progress has been made, but a lot still has to be
done. Yesterday I drove through potholes and dongas in
Olievenhoutbosch to someone's RDP house. Tension about the
housing lists which are kept in secret, recently resulted in violent
clashes between immigrants and South African citizens. The ACDP
says we should openly publish the lists on a national data base, and
implement community based housing projects where the future owners
build their own houses. Every citizen should be able to own a
house irrespective of political affiliation. The ACDP welcomes the eventual
announcement that the rebuilding of Munitoria project will go ahead on
a PPP basis. This is a crucial ingredient of the upliftment of
the inner city of Pretoria. Let us remain hopeful that the
municipality will accelerate and improve its ability to deliver
services and infrastructure projects to the community. GOD BLESS TSHWANE - MODIMO O TSHEGOFATSE TSHWANE - GOD SEËN TSHWANE - NKOSI SIKELELE TSHWANE I thank you Richard Dinkelmann ACDP Councillor: Tshwane Metro rwdinkel@mweb.co.za +27 83 263 2664 (mobile) +27 86 671 9044 (fax)