ON Sunday 2 October, Save Our Berea had been in existence for three years. According to co-founders Cheryl Johnson and Kevin Dunkley, it has been a tough, eye-opening yet gratifying journey. Together, they sum up what the last three years have meant for the civic organisation.
“When the organisation was formed in 2013, we had no idea of what we really wanted to achieve, nor did we have any idea of the problems we would encounter. All we wanted to do was form a civic action group and make a difference to the lives
of people on the Berea. Three quotes became our watchword over these three years, the first by an American anthropologist, the second by an ex chief justice of South Africa, and the third by an award winning local architect.
The first quote was by Margaret Mead who said, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Maybe our naivety became our strength and even the name we chose is a bit of a misnomer. Our areas of influence go way outside just the Berea, and the use of the word “Save” gave an impression of retaining the status quo, whereas nothing could be further from the truth. What we can say, and for this we make no apology, we want to save our constitution and the rule of law. Our message has been fairly simple. Apply the law, whether we are talking about city by-laws or the law against criminals.
Also in using the Berea in our title we saw this area on the hill as an ideal example of a home for the diverse cultures and religions of all South Africans. We saw an area where these different cultures could live side by side in a sought after environment and where, through good planning people could live, play and work near their homes. We offered to work with the city, but this offer was mainly rejected. What we found was a disappointment. Every day, in the last three years we have found examples of corruption, arrogance and lack of service. Make no mistake, we also found little areas of excellence and people who bucked the trend but they are too few and too far between.
We found that as citizens, we were the victims of arrogance, factional politics and a lack of leadership that far too often cocked a snoot at the Constitution of South Africa and the rule of law. This is not an unfair accusation and we can debate this point, anywhere, and at any time, against anybody who thinks otherwise. Despite our constitution making the valid point that information should be made available in the new democratic South Africa, we found much of what happens, clouded in
secrecy. It is a sad indictment that the present situation is very little different from the previously undemocratic regime when it comes to information. All we are fed is a propaganda line, which if you were to believe it, says that we have the most efficient, honest, local government available. Unfortunately that is a lie.
It was former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo who put it so succinctly in a 2011 Constitutional Court judgment: “The constitutional guarantee of the right of access to information held by the state gives effect to accountability, responsiveness and openness as founding values of our constitutional democracy.
It is impossible to hold accountable a government that operates in secrecy. In a democratic society such as our own, the effective exercise of the right to vote also depends on the right of access to information. For without access to information, the ability of citizens to make responsible political decisions and participate meaningfully in public life is undermined.”
One of our goals that emerged very early on was to keep the public informed and to create new activists. We at SOB have jobs; we do not get paid for our efforts as activists. This of course allowed us a freedom to act in accordance with our own conscience.
We have worked on many complaints from the public and have unearthed many of our own. Many people have assumed wrongly, that we are just about enforcing the by-laws and the planning regulations. But, in reality, we have found that behind just about every bad decision lingers the elephant in the room – corruption. We are fighting that corruption. Ratepayers are treated with contempt and have very little power to do anything to counter this arrogance. The courts are an expensive place to wage war. And if somebody steps up to the plate, as Advocate Aboobaker did on 317 Currie Road, and goes the legal route, then the city uses OUR money to defend their position. It is morally wrong.
We have been very involved in that court case which goes to the Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on 1 November. We were instrumental in getting the Carte Blanche team to Durban to cover this important story. If the appeal court upholds the decision made in the High Court, then this will be a major victory for ratepayers.
There are many stories to tell, but the saddest, is of the two councillors, elected to represent our interests, who have now be gaoled for life for the callous assassination of an activist in front of her family by a paid hit man. The reason was simply that she was highlighting the corruption on RDP housing that involved both councilors. One of those councilors was in the top echelons of the ANC in council, holding down the chairmanship of the powerful Planning committee, a committee involved in so many of the diabolic decisions that we face. The silence from those that rule this city was deafening. Not one person in authority has had the courage to speak up and condemn this vile act. Oh yes, the speaker went to great pains to see that they still got paid their salaries while the police investigation took place.
I suppose the measure of success for any civic activist is that there is nobody, after three years, in this municipality who does not know who we are.
But it was Don Albert, a Fulbright scholar and award-winning young architect who summed it up when he said that the eThekwini Municipality, has an ‘almost fascist’ attitude to planning and public consultation.
“One wonders why it is so hard for the City to do what is right. We need to revert to a planning culture of genuine democracy, as opposed to one of foregone conclusions, litigation, crisis management, ‘blacklisting’ and spin.”
Quite frankly we do not care who runs the city. All we have ever asked is that our city is governed with honesty, competence, transparency, democracy and an attitude of really caring for its people, That they talk less and act more to root out corruption. Whoever can deliver on this to the citizens of this city, will have our support.
