United we conquer – Divided we fall
Reading an article in the Financial Mail published on Friday, “Bankruptcy stalks Nelson Mandela Bay” truly brings things into perspective regarding the DA’s ability to hold onto power that was hard won in the August 2016 municipal elections. That the DA faces a Catch 22 in many, if not all of the recently gained municipality’s is a reality for, as FM’s commentary so succinctly puts it, “DA and its partners must take the chance of being labelled antipoor, or see the metropole’s monetary affairs worsen even further”. Let’s rewrite that last bit “see Kouga’s, particularly St Francis’, monetary affairs worsen even further”.
There can be no doubt that to hold onto power the DA will have to pour money into the poorer communities. No matter how the wealthier “white” areas bleat how their rates and taxes should be spent in their areas, it’s not going to happen. Some will say so why keep the DA in power if it is not going to benefit us? Well the truth is that the DA will benefit us if for no other reason than keeping the ANC out and hopefully providing a corruption free municipality that will at least deliver some of the services required of them. Remember it was the ANC that created the problems the DA has to now face so best they be kept away from causing more mayhem.
This commentary is neither in support of the St Francis Property Owners Special Rates Area proposal nor any of the other initiatives which are suddenly being proposed. Whatever choices are made in the coming months, one thing is absolutely certain, if the local property owners and yes even non-property owners don’t anti-up, the future looks increasingly bleak.
It really is time for the entire community to start to pull together and forget the petty differences. Whether we live on the banks of the Kromme, the Canals, the Village, Santareme, the Port, Links, Airpark or Cape St Francis, private estates or not, it is time to find common ground. Let’s bury the petty differences and personal concerns and look at the problem as something that will influence our way of life long into the future.
Maybe it is time for elected representatives from all governing body’s / areas lock themselves in a room and not emerge until they reach consensus on what needs to be done and that is acceptable to all property owners and businesses alike.
The year is marching on and the new Kouga budget will be finalised in July so whatever needs to be done by St Francis residents (all its residents) needs to be done now so that whatever is finally decided is in place well before that then lest we have to wait another 12 months for then it could be too late.
Well put It is time people in the community start looking at and realising that there is a bigger picture being played out and things are more likely to get worse in so far as services to the areas of the community which are deemed to be part of the “Haves”. The municipality needs to find ways to service the needs of the “Have Nots” no matter whether it is the DA or the ANC, failing to do so will just make the problems worse and see crime escalate even more as people become more desperate. We need to think about the whole picture when talking about St Francis. This is not just about the Beach and the Spit. They may be issues that are relevant to a viable and attractive tourist attraction which is critical to the life blood of the village and so have been at the top of the list but without them and the inflow of those Tourist rands the slide will become worse. We also need to think about the sewerage, crime, Road maintenance, storm water and all the other things we take for granted.
We need to stop fence sitting and hope that someone else will solve our challenges.
The municipality needs to know whether we want to help and do something through a vehicle like the SRA or not the actual detail will only come out clearly when the yes or no vote is completed and the Municipality is able to make a decision.
What happens if the ANC win after the election. Can we really not opt out of the SRA if the ANC come into power again – they will rub their hands in glee at not having to provide services here?
What about dividing the areas that the SRA assess require urgent funding eg. the spit, the road repairs, recycling etc & give owners the option to contribute to those areas that they feel committed to?
Say R100/month for each area chosen – that would be a smaller cost that individuals feel will cover their own priorities (eg. some folk do & would be more acceptable to most folk.
Herb has some very valid concerns that surely need a reply from the SRA committee.
It is disappointing to see that the comments and queries I posted on Sunday, hoping they would be included in todays issue as “comments”, have instead been relegated to the “recent posts” archives where most will not find it.
I was hoping that the SRA committee would read that and post a reply to those questions which are of concern not only to me, but to many in the village.
Perhaps the post will be available on the main page tomorrow for general comment and an SRA response?
The issue is that SRA’s are a legislated process which are in place in various parts of the country several of which are in municipalities run by the ANC. Funds paid are ring fenced and can only be used in that community unlike rates which can be spread across a much wider band of communities in the municipal area. I am not sure what makes you think that if the ANC was to get back into power that the need for an SRA would fall away and need to be disbanded. The challenge that any municipality has is finding sufficient money to deal with the “Have Nots” so if you really want the Municipality to do things for you in St Francis you must be prepared to have a substantial increase in rates, way beyond what the SRA is proposing , because they will then take an even bigger slice to attend to pressing needs in the disadvantaged areas. That problem is not going to go away anytime soon. R100 per project may not sound a lot but add up all the things that need attention and you may find that there will be insufficient money to do anything. To fix the Village we cannot be selective about the projects that need funding. Some will need to be prioritised but at the end of the day there is a huge amount that needs to be done to arrest the decay. Delaying decisions means the cost increases and the problems get bigger.
Dis hoe dit gaan mense. Ons het nou die geleentheid om vir die eerste keer in jare iets daadwerkliks te doen, en nou probeer elkeen ‘n selfsugtige stuiwer in die armbeurs gooi. Daar is ‘n plan op die tafel – kom ons begin net