Councillor's Corner
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Lifetime Bluff resident serving his third term in office as representative
of the area. Member of the Democratic Alliance.
of the area. Member of the Democratic Alliance.
This weeks Councillor comments
| Duncan Du Bois |
5 February 2007
Phone:467-0343 or mobile:083 291-4913
Municipal Manager - Dr Sutcliffe: Tel 311-2130 ;
SutcliffeM@durban.gov.za
SutcliffeM@durban.gov.za
Report dumping or unauthorised use of verges; Phone 311-7448
Metro All-Call / All hours Tel No.: 361-0000
Metro Police: Tel 402-0680
Brighton Beach SAPS: Tel 451 8060 / 8059
Brighton Beach Community Policing Forum Chairman:
Mr Eric Retzlaff : Tel 467-7473 or 084 4411-125
Metro All-Call / All hours Tel No.: 361-0000
Metro Police: Tel 402-0680
Brighton Beach SAPS: Tel 451 8060 / 8059
Brighton Beach Community Policing Forum Chairman:
Mr Eric Retzlaff : Tel 467-7473 or 084 4411-125
Useful Contacts
Crime : The murder of David Rattray : turning point or
point of no return?
The seething tensions and misgivings over the ANC government’s posturing on crime have
rightly gained impetus with the senseless murder of historian David Rattray last Friday. The
prevalence and nature of crime has become a national crisis. On that there can be no
debate. Nothing less than a new approach with new and resolute people is overdue.
Ninety-five percent of the respondents in an IOL (Independent online) poll conducted this
week viewed crime as being out of control. Although that result is premised on a smaller and
different sample of respondents, it reflects a huge negative surge on the 63% who expressed
little confidence in the ANC’s ability to combat crime when polled by Markinor last November.
The tragic slaying of Rattray comes hard on the heels of two developments within the ANC
concerning crime. The first is the denial by President Thabo Mbeki that crime is out of control
and his assertion that this is merely a perception. The second is the response of the ANC
after its recent three-day conference. While Mbeki’s view is as pitiful as the one he has on
HIV/Aids, the position of the ANC on crime as outlined by its spokesman Smuts Ngonyama is
disturbing, to say the least.
Essentially Ngonyama’s response to combating crime is to politicise it. On SAfm on January
23 he stated that the way forward is to get ANC branch structures to form street committees
and to work with the police against criminals. If the ANC’s record in dealing with criminals
within its own ranks is anything to go by, Ngonyama’s suggestion deserves only contempt.
But it’s worse than that. His so-called plan amounts to an attempt to generate political mileage
out of what is a national crisis. Moreover, the very idea of street committees is synonymous
with vigilantism and the miscarriage of justice.
If that’s the best the ANC can come up with after three days’ deliberation, then it is
unacceptable. The same goes for the tired refrain that poverty causes crime. Millions were
unemployed in the United States during the Great Depression yet the U.S. was not deluged
by a crime wave. In South Africa, however, criminals are using the sea of poverty as a base
from which to operate and in which to hide. Irrespective of the degree of poverty, crime is an
added affliction. Improving service delivery and housing is not going to deter the criminal
network. As long as crime pays, which it does in ANC-ruled South Africa, crime will flourish.
And it will prosper as long as there is inept policing and police leadership.
As things stand, then, the ANC government is in violation of its constitutional obligations. The
police are failing to protect and to secure the inhabitants of the Republic in terms of section
205(3) of the Constitution. In turn, that means political responsibility for policing and its
efficacy, as specified in sections 206 and 207, is failing. The Minister of Police, Charles
Nqakula, and National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi should be removed from their
posts. Failing that, a section 38 class action suit should be brought against them and the
president because only the president can terminate the services of the national commissioner.
Before catastrophe overtakes calamity the only way forward is to privatise policing. Already
there are security functions which should be performed by the police but which are being
carried out at a police station in Durban by a private security company. Deploying such
companies to combat crime could be done on a tender basis. Performance could be
monitored and evaluated by existing community policing forums. The results could only be an
improvement on the usual excuses of no vehicles being available or that the switchboard
operator was incompetent and unintelligible.
An officer corps could be maintained to oversee administration. To reduce corruption and to
optimise efficiency senior positions such as station commanders and commissioners through
to the national commissioner should be directly accountable to the public. That means having
their terms of office determined at the ballot box every five years, like ward councillors.
The penal code should also be tightened up so that criminals would fear the wrath of the law.
Instead of building more stadia, more prisons should be built and their management
privatised in the same way as policing — both subject to civilian oversight procedures.
In 13 years the ANC has proved that its only interest in government is to treat it as a milch
cow for the benefit of cronies and comrades. The disgraceful admission by Ngonyama that he
did not join the struggle to remain poor and the equally dark statement by ANC Secretary-
General Kgalema Molanthe, that the rot in the ANC, meaning greed for money, is “across the
board”, leave no doubt why their role in government needs to be reduced urgently.
The outrage over the callous killing of Rattray must not be allowed to blow over and his death
to become just another statistic. Either this tragedy becomes a turning point in dealing with
the crime pandemic or a point of no return as South Africa degenerates into politically-
sanctioned anarchy.
point of no return?
The seething tensions and misgivings over the ANC government’s posturing on crime have
rightly gained impetus with the senseless murder of historian David Rattray last Friday. The
prevalence and nature of crime has become a national crisis. On that there can be no
debate. Nothing less than a new approach with new and resolute people is overdue.
Ninety-five percent of the respondents in an IOL (Independent online) poll conducted this
week viewed crime as being out of control. Although that result is premised on a smaller and
different sample of respondents, it reflects a huge negative surge on the 63% who expressed
little confidence in the ANC’s ability to combat crime when polled by Markinor last November.
The tragic slaying of Rattray comes hard on the heels of two developments within the ANC
concerning crime. The first is the denial by President Thabo Mbeki that crime is out of control
and his assertion that this is merely a perception. The second is the response of the ANC
after its recent three-day conference. While Mbeki’s view is as pitiful as the one he has on
HIV/Aids, the position of the ANC on crime as outlined by its spokesman Smuts Ngonyama is
disturbing, to say the least.
Essentially Ngonyama’s response to combating crime is to politicise it. On SAfm on January
23 he stated that the way forward is to get ANC branch structures to form street committees
and to work with the police against criminals. If the ANC’s record in dealing with criminals
within its own ranks is anything to go by, Ngonyama’s suggestion deserves only contempt.
But it’s worse than that. His so-called plan amounts to an attempt to generate political mileage
out of what is a national crisis. Moreover, the very idea of street committees is synonymous
with vigilantism and the miscarriage of justice.
If that’s the best the ANC can come up with after three days’ deliberation, then it is
unacceptable. The same goes for the tired refrain that poverty causes crime. Millions were
unemployed in the United States during the Great Depression yet the U.S. was not deluged
by a crime wave. In South Africa, however, criminals are using the sea of poverty as a base
from which to operate and in which to hide. Irrespective of the degree of poverty, crime is an
added affliction. Improving service delivery and housing is not going to deter the criminal
network. As long as crime pays, which it does in ANC-ruled South Africa, crime will flourish.
And it will prosper as long as there is inept policing and police leadership.
As things stand, then, the ANC government is in violation of its constitutional obligations. The
police are failing to protect and to secure the inhabitants of the Republic in terms of section
205(3) of the Constitution. In turn, that means political responsibility for policing and its
efficacy, as specified in sections 206 and 207, is failing. The Minister of Police, Charles
Nqakula, and National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi should be removed from their
posts. Failing that, a section 38 class action suit should be brought against them and the
president because only the president can terminate the services of the national commissioner.
Before catastrophe overtakes calamity the only way forward is to privatise policing. Already
there are security functions which should be performed by the police but which are being
carried out at a police station in Durban by a private security company. Deploying such
companies to combat crime could be done on a tender basis. Performance could be
monitored and evaluated by existing community policing forums. The results could only be an
improvement on the usual excuses of no vehicles being available or that the switchboard
operator was incompetent and unintelligible.
An officer corps could be maintained to oversee administration. To reduce corruption and to
optimise efficiency senior positions such as station commanders and commissioners through
to the national commissioner should be directly accountable to the public. That means having
their terms of office determined at the ballot box every five years, like ward councillors.
The penal code should also be tightened up so that criminals would fear the wrath of the law.
Instead of building more stadia, more prisons should be built and their management
privatised in the same way as policing — both subject to civilian oversight procedures.
In 13 years the ANC has proved that its only interest in government is to treat it as a milch
cow for the benefit of cronies and comrades. The disgraceful admission by Ngonyama that he
did not join the struggle to remain poor and the equally dark statement by ANC Secretary-
General Kgalema Molanthe, that the rot in the ANC, meaning greed for money, is “across the
board”, leave no doubt why their role in government needs to be reduced urgently.
The outrage over the callous killing of Rattray must not be allowed to blow over and his death
to become just another statistic. Either this tragedy becomes a turning point in dealing with
the crime pandemic or a point of no return as South Africa degenerates into politically-
sanctioned anarchy.
| South Durban Community Environmental Alliance |
TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN EDWIN SWALES VC DRIVE: NOT OUR
PROBLEM SAYS ANC ...... learn more .... click here
PROBLEM SAYS ANC ...... learn more .... click here
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EDWIN SWALES VC DRIVE FIASCO: TIME RATEPAYERS MADE
THEMSELVES HEARD
' If the ruling party in Ethekwini Municipality and the key official involved in road management
are content to allow the fiasco in Edwin Swales VC Dve to continue, then maybe its time ......
...... LEARN MORE ... CLICK HERE
THEMSELVES HEARD
' If the ruling party in Ethekwini Municipality and the key official involved in road management
are content to allow the fiasco in Edwin Swales VC Dve to continue, then maybe its time ......
...... LEARN MORE ... CLICK HERE
You can contact Councillor D Du Bois by e-mail @ dubois@axxess.co.za