Ward 7

I recently asked a like minded friend if he would be willing to stand as a Non-Political Party Political Party Candidate in his Ward.His response was; “I don’t want to die!” My friend is well entrenched in the community structures and a man of the people for the people. A man who puts the City and the welfare of it’s people first. A man who is well aware of the ways in which Ward Councillors circumvent common decency and respect in order to line the pockets of their benefactors, relatives and … [Read more...] about THIS is How Entrenched Corruption is in our Municipality

The simple answer is….. No.Why should the electorate give failing leaders another bite at the Cherry for another 3 and a bit years? Delaying elections is tantamount to giving the corrupt, the inept and the lazy a free pass to continue looting, failing and sleeping at the cost of the ratepayer. If the USA can, during the COVID pandemic, mobilise at least 161 million Americans to vote in the 2020 election – the largest number of voters in a U.S. presidential election in history – then surely South … [Read more...] about Should we Delay Local Elections to 2024?

Help Me Out Here?On an almost hourly basis we see Members of Parliament, Executive Mayors and Mayoral Committee members all across the country being interviewed and holding press conferences on subjects that can only be termed PARTY POLITICAL. We watch, listen and read as they slam opposition parties and pontificate on how wonderful their political party is DURING the time that the ta and ratepayers are paying them to do Service Delivery and attend to COUNTRY and CITY Business. Is there a … [Read more...] about Could THIS be why Wasteful Expenditure by Politicians is so High?

STONE AGE: Caveman Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash In the Stone Age a group of cavemen – Brout, Jelk, Dourc, Gnekk, Zuac and Ulran got together and elected a leader, by grunting in the direction of their chosen ‘candidate’, to represent them when it came to matters affecting the group of cavemen. Cyrerk was duly elected and he dutifully followed the wishes of the tribe in representing their interests when it came to Woolly Mammoth Hunting, Skeleton Clean-ups, Fire making, … [Read more...] about Where and When Did We Lose The Plot?

The Mayor highlights one building in this article: Mayor Bhanga calls urgent Mayoral Committee meeting to tackle vandalism of municipal facilitiesConsider the cost mounting up to repair these buildings. Costs that will have to be borne by citizens paying rates and services… Costs that will have a huge impact on the ability of business – especially tourism businesses to survive! I personally, along with The Heritage Society, have close experience of the goings on at the Red Location Museum and … [Read more...] about Red Location Museum – The Miscreants are NOT Whom You May Think!

The Healthcare Workers Crisis Beats the Politician Fat Cat Posts 36 800 to 1Spotlight reported in September 2020: “An additional 14 791 health workers and an additional R8.1 billion would be required by 2025 to keep densities at 2019 levels (status quo).” According to this model, a shortage of around 16 000 professional nurses needs to be addressed to reach the equity target by 2025.” SA Medical Association chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee said doctors in the public sector were overwhelmed due … [Read more...] about There is NO Shortage of Politicians in SA but a 15 000 Healthcare Staff Shortage Looms

TEST SUBMISSION:On 03/08/2020 Al West reported a fault in Ward 7: (Schauderville, Holland Park, Ferguson, Steytler, Adcockvale, Newton Park, Kensington, Perridgevale, Parsons Hill, Greenacres, Glenhurd, Mill Park) at 12 van Niekerk Street, Parsons Hill. Fault Details: Problem reported: Street Light out of order Detail: Right outside 12 van Niekerk – has been out for two months to date Reference Number: <!––>Click Here to submit YOUR Ward Faults Tell Your Mates:Like this:Like Loading... … [Read more...] about Fault Report: 03/08/2020

Yes, As Amazing As That Sounds! Now this friend of mine is extremely capable, intelligent and caring BUT she has one flaw which has placed her in a bit of a pickle. Within the group that she finds herself she finds constantly that when new people are introduced to the group they avoid her like the plague, whisper behind her back, do not believe a word that she says and never vote her into any position of power despite her proven virtues of intelligence and caring. Let’s use the initial ‘D’ … [Read more...] about I Have a Friend…

If a body only has ONE person standing for a position in an election and that person is subsequently elected is it fair?With reference to the recent election of Nqaba Bhanga as Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay: It was followed by a letter from the MEC for Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs, Hon Nqatha, stating that the election of an Acting Speaker and, therefore, the election of a Mayor at the Nelson Mandela Bay Special Council meeting, was unlawful and therefore null and … [Read more...] about The Grapple for the Position of Executive Mayor

However well meaning we are, we still slip into divisive forms of communication/wording from time to time.One of those words that is negative is ‘township’ as it carries a negative connotation harking back to the days of apartheid. We need to make a decision here and choose ONE word to describe our Neighbourhood Units. The fair thing to do would be to DROP the word ‘suburb’ from our vocabulary and refer to each area as a TOWNSHIP – e.g. The Township of Summerstrand, The Township of Parsons Hill, … [Read more...] about Are You Also Tired of This Word?

You Cannot Fix Stupid, But you can vote it out. Photo: Heather MoutonThe ‘game’ of politics is a strange one – the citizens get to vote for whomever they choose (theoretically) as their leaders. And, right there we have a problem word – LEADERS. In the historical sense of the word a leader leads, a leader determines the direction to take and his followers follow. In the business sense a ‘supreme’ leader is one who provided the capital and whose livelihood depends on the success of the … [Read more...] about Politics: Time for Different Words

Rabid supporters of political parties are the Don Quixote’s of our times – any perceived threat to their base or incumbents results in them ‘Tilting at windmills’. This English idiom which means “attacking imaginary enemies”, originated from Miguel de Cervantes’ early 17th century novel Don Quixote and from the romantic, ill-thought-out actions of the story’s hero of the same name.A new windmill may not be an enemy – in my case, as a Windmill, I am fervently aiming to put the focus back on … [Read more...] about The Enormity of the Ward 7 Journey

In a word – Pride.We have lost our sense of pride in self, place, culture and history. Our moral compass has been bumped and no longer points true North as we leave organised religion in droves and replace that with the cult of Tabloid Entertainment. We are addicted to the instant endorphins that we get from successive Shock, Gasp, Horror revelations. We revel in the other person’s misfortune. We are addicted to our screens and no longer engage meaningfully with our fellow humans. The shocking … [Read more...] about Why do we have so much corruption and fraud?

In South Africa and the rest of the world for that matter – the role that opposition parties have claimed for themselves is one that involves continuous sniping and pointing out of how inefficient, corrupt and bumbling the ruling party is… Frankly I think that that position is one that is self destructive and an insult to the intelligence of the citizens of South Africa – we can see that things are not right and to continually read headlines, social media posts and letters to the editor that … [Read more...] about Let’s Talk About ‘Opposition’ Politics