The 5000 Club consists of residents and business people who live or work in the DA Sandton Constituency as well as friends and goes out every 6 weeks with an update on parliament and political activity in the north of Johannesburg. Feel free to add friends to this group or email me their addresses. The first newsletter went out to 1833 people directly and was forwarded to a further 700. We hope to grow it to 5000.

In this edition:

1. A perspective on the crisis in local government

2. Meet councillors in the Sandton Constituency

3. Parliamentary update

Local Government

Local government in SA is a complex and misunderstood field. Having written a two-part piece for the Citizen on why the City newspaper functions so badly, I must say things are not improving much! The economic downturn has meant that people are battling to pay home loans and rates accounts. Coupled with the ANC being unable to properly implement the rates bill has meant that revenue has dropped substantially. Most concerning is the announcement of large budget cuts on road maintenance and infrastructure. This will of course, mean that the potholes are going to get larger and water leaks will run longer, like this one below in Durban:

More photos here.

Residents, however, seem to believe that by burning down the house of councillors in Soweto, or screaming at the local councillor will get results! Unfortunately after the ANC amalgamated six municipalities into the Johannesburg Metro, this removed the power from local politicians. An Executive Mayor was chosen for the City, giving him all of the real power to implement. There are NO service level agreements between City Power, Pikitup, or Joburg Water, and the regional offices of the city or the ward councillors. In legal terms, these service providers are only accountable to the Mayor.

Residents are therefore required to contact the city directly, via (011) 375 5555 or www.joburg.org.za (click on E-services) or to walk in to one of the 7 "People Centres" to report problems. If that doesn't get resolution then contact your councillor brandishing a reference number. Their role is then to pressurise officials to respond, escalate the problem, and finally go to the media, if there is no response (which is quite often the case). Under this system, the ward councillor does not have the power to demand services from the departments of the City.

Journalists often don't understand how local government in metro cities works. Case in point, Kennedy Mudzuli (the editor of the Rosebank/Killarney Gazette) recently took to rubbishing certain councillors in the his newspaper. While some councillors may not be efficient, it is astounding how little is understood of local government. Ward Councillors are NOT responsible for Crime prevention – that's the job of the SAPS. Councillors are meant to represent communities in council meetings to debate budgets and business plans and argue for better services. Their role in service delivery is to assist when the system has broken down, not deal with everyday problems.

Unfortunately, of the 3 biggest Metro Cities in South Africa, Johannesburg is the only one with an ANC Executive Mayor, and if you drive through the three cities, you will immediately agree that Johannesburg has the worst service delivery and the dirtiest streets! The ANC has gone to great lengths to centralize power and to limit the role of the ward councillor and ward committees. Local elections are 15 months away and we need to remember the state of our city when we cast our ballot.

Meet some of our Councillors:

Darren Bergman	Darren Bergman is the DA Safety spokesperson on the City Council. He currently also is the DA’s “caretaker councillor” for Ward 32 (Modderfontein, Linbro Park, Alexandra, Klipfonteinview, Mayibuye). In this area he is championing remedies for air, ground and water pollution in ward 32 and developing DA structures in the area. Darren is a qualified BLS Paramedic, director of a financial services company, loves cricket, and is married to Phillipa. Email bergman.darren@gmail.com
Vincent Earp	Vincent Earp is a former high school Headmaster from the area. “After 25 years of teaching I still help out at a centre for underprivileged children” he reminds us. Presently, Vincent is the ward councillor for ward 103, (parts of Bryanston, Morningside, Riverclub, Benmore Gardens, Parkmore ,Sandown Ext 24 and the Sandton CBD). “Key issues of service delivery include incorrect billing, unfair disconnections, power outages and water disruptions. We are fighting bad re-zoning applications and calling for repairs to extremely poor roads. I am positive about SA and believe we should all contribute”. Vincent enjoys watching sport, reading and spending time with family and friends. Email vearp@iafrica.com
Gordon Mackay	Gordon Mackay is the Councillor for Ward 90 (Rosebank, Hyde Park, Craighall Sandhurst, Parkmore, Illovo etc). He has been working closely with residents associations to determine challenges facing the Ward and has notched up successes such as correcting incorrect rates valuations, the removal of squatters on private properties and the Braamfontein Spruit as well as having Sturdee Avenue in Rosebank, and sections of William Nicol resurfaced. His vision is for residents' associations to take an active role in the Ward. In his scarce spare time he enjoys being outdoors, keeping fit and swims (currently training for the Midmar Mile race) and is presently reading Steve Biko’s “I Write What I Like”. Email gordon.mackay81@googlemail.com
Patrick Atkinson	Patrick Atkinson is an elected PR (Proportional Representation) Councillor and is allocated to be DA “caretaker councillor” in Ward 109 (Marlboro, Wendywood, Morningside Manor, Kelvin and part of Alexandra) and he is working towards a DA victory in Ward 109 in 2011. Patrick is involved in the Economic Development, Urban Planning and Rules Committees in the City. He is committed to seeing the economic muscle of Johannesburg working efficiently. Patrick loves the outdoors and particularly the lush beauty of Johannesburg. He would like to see the urban landscape of Sandton respected and maintained and beautiful green areas such as the Ernest Ullman Park protected and cherished for the next generation." Email peegee@icon.co.za

Parliament has seen an eventful year. The labour committee has a final set of Labour Broking hearings in November and draft legislation is expected in February. However, while Cosatu is demanding the banning of  what they refer to as “slave traders” one hears rumours in parliament of backdoor deals being done. Minister Pandor alluded to these in answer to questions. One can only hope that these behind the scenes negotiations of labour unions are in the best interests of all and that Parliament is not wasting its effort with the hearings.

Key points of concern in Parliament are:

• The large number of luxury vehicles bought by cabinet ministers during the recession  - worth around R50 million;
• The wasteful expenditure on parties, hotel bills, and corrupt contracts;
• The poor performance of state owned enterprises such as SABC, SAA, Eskom, and Transnet who have been close to insolvent over the past financial year;
• The racial undertones that continue to dog the political debate. We need to grow up as a nation.

Finally there has been good news: In at least two cases, opposition and the ANC were in agreement on appointments to Chapter 9 institutions (Government controlled entities such as ICASA and the Comperition Commission), which shows a degree of maturation. The Western Cape transition from the ANC to the Democratic Alliance and partners has been relatively smooth with only 3 officials leaving out of over 14 000 employees. There has been a much healthier relationship between President Zuma and the opposition than was the case previously.