MyPE

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UDM-DA: When the tail wags the dog

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After the United Democratic Movement (UDM) failed to attend a full sitting of council yesterday, leaving their coalition partners the Democratic Alliance (DA) with two seats short of the required for a majority vote, the DA’s opposition parties in the metro – ANC‚ EFF‚ UF‚ PA and AIC – walked out of the session leaving the DA powerless to make any decisions.

Editor: Frankly – we as ratepayers should demand that every man/woman jack of council should be docked a day’s pay for yesterday’s lost productivity.

After the ‘day at the beach’ for truant councillors Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip released a statement headed “Coalition government remains committed to taking NMB forward” saying:

“The coalition government remains committed to its offer of good governance, growing our economy to create jobs and to stop corruption.

We regret that council was not able to quorate and convene today. The reasons for this are unclear, as none of the opposition parties were in council to start with.

This suggests that whatever the dynamics are, this could not possibly have been affected by the council agenda or on what transpired prior to council.

This situation is serious as there were two important items that needed to be tabled in council to meet compliance prescripts. These were the tabling of the 2015/16 Annual Report and the 2016/17 Mid-term report.

These reports have to be table before the end of January and we commit ourselves to doing everything in our power to ensure that we meet these compliance prescripts timeously.

We are not deterred from our work of taking the Bay forward and will continue to deliver change that improves the lives of all residents.”

Editor: This is what happens when you cobble together an alliance and the tail realises that they can shake the dog. Welcome to the politics of greed! Maybe now people will realise that most local politicians are only interested in more power and the more money that goes with it, rather than laying the groundwork for a successful city!

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.