Julius was walking along, and fell into a deep hole.
Floyd shouted down, “Hey Julius, are you alright, is anything broken?”
“Not yet,” replied Julius, “I’ve only just got here.”
The EFF is a joke. They have absolutely nothing to contribute to the political commonweal.
They fought Mbeki to get Zuma in, vowed to be prepared to kill for Zuma, then like a pack of dogs they turned on him.
Now they’re turning on Ramaphosa and his cabinet, possibly because the fight against corruption threatens their corrupt Gucci lifestyles. They have nothing of value to offer this country.
Two aspects of President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address last week should be of interest to residents of the North Coast.
The first is his promise to fix the power supply, in part by allowing private producers to contribute to the national grid and to supply municipalities.
The second is to protect the tourism sector with more police.
The sugar mills have repeatedly pleaded with government to allow them to sell their surplus electricity into the grid.
Paul de Robbilard of Gledhow told this newspaper several years ago that they were ready and willing to contribute, but were met with a stony refusal by Eskom. Well, we know how that has worked out, don’t we!
Australia has been in the forefront of generating electricity through the domestic market.
Every new house is required to have solar panels and homeowners are paid to feed their surplus energy into the national grid.
I understand eThekwini Metro allows homeowners to feed back into the grid and to run their electricity meters backwards.
I believe they also pass a credit but cannot get confirmation on that.
KwaDukuza, however, does not allow homeowners to build up credit.
They should.
But KDM relies on the sale of electricity to balance its budget, so is reluctant to change its model.
Hopefully, with the President’s new attitude to private electricity producers, that might begin to change.
The second issue, equally pressing, is policing. The level of policing on the lower North Coast is abysmal.
Residents are frequently told that their complaints cannot be attended to because of a shortage of vehicles.
When we reported this matter a few weeks ago, the attitude of the police provincial management was that the media should not highlight their weaknesses, as this would alert criminals.
Do they think criminals don’t already know that the police are under-resourced? If we don’t talk about it, the problem will go away? Of course, how silly of us!
The lack of action by police to the public drinking, fornicating and uncontrolled lawlessness on Dolphin Coast beaches, particularly over the past few months, is nothing short of disgraceful.
It is obvious to every resident that there is no will to solve the problem.
Yes, there are good policemen and women, no denying that, but the situation smacks of poor management of resources.
If action is not taken right now to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs – the holiday sector – then we are headed for big trouble.
Twenty-two stabbings, connected with drink or drugs, is sending out a very loud message to stay away!
If people want the local economy to collapse, a la the EFF, then they’re headed in the right direction!
Equally to blame is the so-called “community safety” arm of the municipality.
The same one that, according to the Auditor-General’s report a few weeks ago, spent R50 million on overtime last year.
I must admit I did see them in action a few times over season, but for the rest of the year they’re ghosts.
They’re nowhere to be found when taxis are driving straight through red lights and stopping wherever they please, when bad drivers are chatting on their cell phones and careering their SUVs all over the road.
Overtime, doing what? Bodyguarding the mayor? They’re certainly not on the beachfront confiscating liquor and keeping order.
Another part of the problem in this district is the turmoil in the leadership of the municipality.
Factions are more interested in their own power bases than the welfare of the community.
Why are we not surprised?
The internal power struggles of the ANC are legend, but what worries me is the complete silence from the opposition parties, the DA, IFP and others. Have they completely caved in?
Ditto the civilian bodies, for what they are worth. That includes ratepayers, community policing forums and neighbourhood watches.
If they do not voice their displeasure at the situation, long and loud, then they cannot expect any action.
It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
The only exception to this is the iLembe Chamber of Commerce, which voices its concerns elsewhere in this issue, but it is not by its nature a radical complainer.
There needs to be a big noise to be heard at provincial and national levels.
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