Let's hope the new broom sweeps the city clean

My letter to the Tshwane mayor in the Pretoria News - 11 November

Dear Mr Mayor, please accept my congratulations on your election as mayor of Tshwane. By all accounts you are a man with a plan. Your statements regarding service delivery and rooting out corruption are truly inspiring.
But our beloved city has gone through a bad patch over the past few years. Voters across the political spectrum are disillusioned with outdated political rhetoric, empty promises and power games that are only about the positioning of politicians and politically connected civil servants. The number one casualty of this dismal situation is effective service delivery to our residents, many of whom are paying their rates and taxes religiously.
The transport and roads portfolio on which I serve is so neglected that any reasonable dialogue reaches an impasse that can only be rescued with an intervention from the top. This is the only way forward to find sustainable solutions for the many challenges in this field, the mainstay of economic development. Changing the bus ticketing system, without consultation with political role players or the public, saw the most irrational ticket system forced on commuters. People who depend on a reliable and affordable public transport system are calling us daily expressing their frustration with the transport services, or lack thereof. Considering all the problems at the bus service and the metro’s refusal to tackle the problems , we are risking losing the bus service. The long awaited BRT system more than ever seems only a pipedream.
The Melgisedek Christian Centre in Riviera -council property - is fast becoming another Schubart Park disaster. This facility has been functioning for more than two years in a vacuum posing many social, health and safety threats. My motion that was accepted at the June Council meeting called on council to draw up an action plan indicating what measures will be taken to take control over this facility. With no plan forthcoming, I had to compile questions ( to be tabled at the this month’s council meeting) asking if the motion is receiving any attention, and when an action plan can be expected.
There are scores of other problems that have been ignored for too long: lawlessness on our roads; incorrect billing; a dysfunctional helpdesk, streetlights not working, messy parks and sidewalks, neglected graveyards, illegal businesses, inadequate infrastructure, squatters, regular power supply failures, to mention but a few.
As a member of the official opposition, I hope that your approach will be different from your predecessor’s. While wishing you all the best with a mammoth challenge I am fearful that you will be confronted with your own party’s destructive forces choosing to ignore diversity, lacking the political will to do what is right and placing a higher premium on selfish party political goals at the expense of the greater community.