IFP talks-up big election come back in 2016

Sir
The foregoing article dated August 25, bears reference. As a point of departure I would like to indicate that it is good to see that the political race for the upcoming Local Government Elections has started, and as stated in your article, the IFP has commenced with an ‘aggressive election campaign’.
However, I would like to state that an ‘aggressive election campaign’ and a misleading election campaign are two very different concepts. It would seem that the majority of the persons mentioned in the article seem to be ex-municipal officials who may be disgruntled at being ‘let go’ and are now attempting to use the political arena to discredit the municipality.
For example, Mr Carelse has criticised Endumeni Municipality by stating that no service delivery is existent whilst citing poor service delivery in the town of Wasbank (‘Ghost Town’) and poor road conditions as proof thereof.
Mr Maltman boldly states that the current managers at Endumeni are not competent, however, the question that begs to be asked is why when Mr Maltman, who was Acting Municipal Manager of Endumeni for almost two years as well as Mr Carelse, who was Acting Executive Manager Technical Services during the same period, did they not focus on service delivery in Wasbank and the upgrade of roads as well as sporting facilities and illegal dumping. These duties would have felt squarely at the feet of these two individuals at the time, however, one can see no difference between the period they were in office and the current state affairs, in fact there seems to be significant improvement now as opposed to before. Had these gentlemen commenced with an ‘aggressive service delivery, administration campaign’ at the time, then surely Wasbank would have been on par with Glencoe and Dundee and would not n\be a ‘Ghost Town’. Furthermore, the coal trucks that run through our town would have been approved during the period that both these individuals were employed at the municipality, thus the poor road conditions that we now face are as a result of a decision that would have been taken when these gentlemen were in office.
Mr Maltman was well known in the media for the ‘Pensiongate’ saga and considering that Mr Carelse is commenting on wasteful expenditure, the public as well as the IFP voters would like to know as to whether Mr Maltman has refunded the Council and ratepayers for the millions of rands that had been spent on his case with the Municipal Pension Fund as he had allegedly received an unwarranted pension payout which was deemed irregular in a court of law. Ratepayers allegedly had to foot the bill for this case. Maybe in the interest of recovering wasteful expenditure on behalf of the IFP, Mr Carelse should follow up on this matter with Mr Maltman with immediate effect and report on the electorate through the medium of the Courier.
Mr Carelse boldly states that in terms of the current suspended Municipal Manager, TB Biyela, “the council does not have any evidence against him”, as well as the fact that managers are winning their cases and the council is refusing to take them back. These matters would fall purely within ambit of the administrative component at the municipality and it is difficult to see how the council, which is legislative Organ of State, would act illegally as averred to by Mr Carelse. Surely, Mr Biyela’s legal team would have raised such issue of ‘lack of evidence’ when they had faced Council’s attorneys in court, however, this does not seem to be the case, thus it would be safer for Mr Carelse to leave the semantics of law to the legal experts as his interpretation of the facts seem to be a bit distorted.
The allegations of ‘fraud’ also seem to be a bit premature as ‘fraud’ can only be established by a Court of Law and not Mr Carelse, unless he has a thorough understanding on the processes linked to fraud and fraudulent activities. Mr Ndlela it would seem was another famous ex-municipal official who graced the pages of the NN Courier for his numerous encounters with other staff members, however, it is commendable to see his recent interest in the IFP, (after he was dismissed), has had the effect of breathing new life into the IFP’s election campaign.
In conclusion, I would like to state that it will be fascinating to monitor the IFP election campaign as headed by these famous individuals, however, it is always important to understand that an election campaign should be based on fact and not fiction.
T. Ndlovu
Card Carrying IFP Member