EDITOR – This letter refers to the Sunday Tribune City Watch, Sunday 16 November, ‘Engaging with the communities’ R7 million budget for outreach programme,”
where 103 Municipal wards, each ward has a councillor employed by the Municipality paid by the ratepayers, the very people they are supposed to represent.
I know who my councillor is and if I have issues I speak to him, he then takes these issues and brings them to the attention of the appropriate person in the municipality, in other words he represents me and is paid to do so. Why does Tozi Mthethwa feel the need to spend R7 million of our money on an outreach programme, when we all know what the outcome of it will be?
Reading further I was not sure whether to laugh or cry, R3.7million on catering? When I go to work, my boss does not lay out food for me, I take my own sandwiches.
A couple of months ago, via my councillor, I asked for the municipality to clean up the tennis courts at the bottom of Montpelier Road and fix the fence around the courts as it was an open invite to vagrants. What would it cost to lift the fence and pin it, certainly not in the millions, Tozi’s reply was ‘They are not sure what the future is for the tennis courts and they did not want to incur any unnecessary expenditure’, remarkable. Is this R7 million not unnecessary expenditure?
Tozi, my suggestion is that you call the 103 ward councilors to a meeting (they must bring their own lunch) find out who is not doing their job and replace them with someone who will do the job.
Estimated costs: 103 e-mails to attend compulsory meeting R309, venue city hall – no cost, advertising – no need, overtime – no need as this would be during working hours, catering – nil as councillors must feed themselves (as in any normal business practice), transport – nil as councillors will use their own cars for which they receive a car allowance anyway.
Right, now let’s take the balance R6,999 691.00 million and put it to proper use, where the people of the city are the ones who will benefit, that would be a nice change.
Janet Morgan
Morningside
