Goby: unfair criticism?

Jane Trembath writes:

(File photo).

Dear Clr Ghaleb Cachalia, as a resident of Westdene, I was handed a leaflet by a young DA member recently, criticising Mary Goby for social media posts and for associating with IRASA.

Send your letters to bctletters@caxton.co.za

I have the following question:

• What social media posts discredited DA ward councillors?

The only posts I have been shown are photos of problems in wards, apparently reported several times.

The councillors are not identified by name and some of the wards are not identifiable either.

One identifiable ward was a post about the Benoni Town Hall.

This is a beautiful Art Deco building which should be the jewel of the ward, but is truly a disgrace.

The post said that a resident contacted the councillor, who replied that people should be told to stop leaving trash around.

You may feel Goby’s social media posts are criticism – residents feel they are fair comment.

Goby had a magnificent track record of service delivery in Ward 28 (which incidentally was a great advert for the DA during her term) so even if she had run under the Monster Raving Loony Party, people would have voted for her.

Furthermore, she achieved a lot for the residents under the ANC-run council, so that is not an excuse.

Lastly, a request:

I understand you were eager to get your message out, hence the method of delivery, but next time please take into account the consequences.

My partner and I, who volunteer many hours of our time cleaning up litter in the suburb and caring for the bird sanctuary, found numerous leaflets littering the streets.

I even found one tucked into a gate of the bird sanctuary.

In my annoyance at having to clean up yet another leaflet, I wondered if they thought the ducks could read.

Editor’s note:

Ghaleb Cachalia, DA leader in Ekurhuleni, writes:

On the issues highlighted in your letter, we are in possession of physical evidence of various social media posts from Goby trying to discredit the DA, more particularly councillors.

I assure you, these are not fictional allegations and as a party of integrity, we ensure our facts are credible before publicising information.

We, however, do not support the unjustifiable criticism of our councillors who work tirelessly to serve our communities.

In the interest of accelerating services, I have been in contact with the political head for Benoni and Daveyton, Michele Clarke (MPL), requesting the councillor to send her a full matrix of all service delivery concerns that have been escalated by the councillor in the ward. I am happy to make available the full logs for all of Benoni, so that you can see the scope and scale of the work the DA is doing to fight for better service delivery against the ANC-run metro, a party we are working relentlessly to unseat.

We would also like to welcome a more constructive relationship with Goby, whom as a former colleague, we still hold in high esteem.

We want to work with her, provided such a relationship is built on mutual respect, trust and dignity, in an effort to make our communities and this metro a better place.

We will not entertain this matter further, instead, we will work on creating a lasting working relationship with Mrs Goby that will benefit the communities we serve.

Editor’s note:

The DA did not provide proof of the posts.