EDITOR – The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has rejected the use of the annual senior citizen’s functions for party politics.
The functions are held across every ward in the city, and cost the eThekwini Municipality almost R15 million per year.
Previously, 500 tickets per ward were allocated to ward councillors who distributed them to community members. The functions are always well-attended and enjoyed by the community’s pensioners. They are not intended to be political functions, or used for campaigning.
Since last year, the speaker’s office has increased the number of tickets for each year, but reduced the number of tickets that are given to DA ward councillors. The remainder of the tickets are given to ANC proportional representation councillors. The same, however, does not apply to ANC ward councillors, who receive all their tickets. This means that Berea councillors Nicole Graham, Jethro Leferve and Martin Meyer have only received 400 of the 600 tickets for their wards, with the remainder going to the ANC.
In Chatsworth, the functions of DA ward councillors were cancelled blatantly at the last minute, while the functions of ANC councillors went ahead. The community’s elderly were left to suffer for political reasons.
The DA condemns this blatant abuse of rate-payers money. We support the functions, but tickets must be allocated fairly and not for political gains. If the ANC want preference, they should buy food parcels with their own money, and not abuse state resources.
Community members who are over 60 years old can contact their councillor for tickets to the attend the function.
Councillor Nicole Graham
Ward 33 councillor: Glenwood and Umbilo
