EDITOR – We are surprised and highly disappointed at the municipality’s reply to our correspondence regarding the Selbourne property rental.
It seems that the municipality is saying that they have given a statement, and if we disagree with it, then we are entitled to approach the City Integrity and Investigation Unit. We previously had a similar response from another head of department in the city, who told us in front of the City Manager, that if we did not like his answers then we could take him to court. Total arrogance since he was saying at our cost we could see him in court and that he would use taxpayers money to defend his case. And of course that ended up with the 317 Currie Road debacle and the High Court finding against the developer and the city.
We have not alleged that there is any impropriety in this matter. All we have said, is that we agree with a view expressed by two city councillors, and using some considerable expertise of our own, that the rental does not seem to be correct.
In our original e-mail to the municipality on 22 March, we said our concern revolves around the issue that the rental agreed between the municipality and Doves, seems to be on the face of it, totally inadequate. If that opinion is correct, then there would seem to be one of two answers. The first is that the persons dealing with this matter may have made an unfortunate but honest mistake. If that proves not to be the case then it is even more worrying in that it appears that the lessee has been favoured for some reason or another. If that is the case, then it would appear to point to a corrupt deal. The City has made it clear that it is against corruption and we have even seen a photograph of our mayor marching against corruption. As the Head of Communication for eThekwini, we know you too are totally opposed to corruption.
Surely the city is opposed to corruption in this city, and if this is correct then surely the spokesperson or somebody else should assist us in investigating this by getting answers to our questions. We can only root out corruption by asking these questions. If it turns out there is nothing amiss our organisation will give the same prominence to the matter that it is now getting.
We are not necessarily alleging corruption, so it is in the interest of the city, to get to the bottom of this transaction. All the municipality has done is to say that the rental has been checked and that it is correct. We have asked very pertinent questions regarding this deal including the name of the person who checked the rental. Given the track record of the municipality it is surely not good enough to tell us that this matter has been investigated and all seems to be correct. Somebody in the municipality needs to supply the answers requested. Only then can we decide whether to complain to the City Integrity and Investigation Unit.
We again ask the City to state clearly whether we are entitled to the information that we request? The questions are fairly simple and depending on the answers, it will tell the municipality and us, as well as the City Integrity and Investigation Unit, whether there is more to this than meets they eye. I think we need to get down to the hard facts. If there is something untoward with this deal, surely Tozi Mthethwa as a head of a department and a citizen of this city would welcome the cooperation of an organisation like ours. In a face to face meeting we had Tozi, she indicated that she valued our input. Not one issue that we have brought up in the nearly three years of our existence has been successfully refuted by any official of this city.
We are not sure what powers the City Integrity and Investigation Unit have in this regard, but I would think they would be disregarding their duty if they were not concerned at getting the same answers that we request.
SAVE OUR BEREA
Cheryl Johnson
Kevin Dunkley
