Letters from our readers - December 2009

Municipal officials: On commission only!

With reference to your article on the dreadful circumstances regarding SA municipalities in the November edition, I would like to make the suggestion that municipal workers and management all be paid on a commission basis for work actually done. A large company works on this basis, from the tea-maker right up to the CEO. They get paid according to production activities performed during the course of a month. No production, no pay.

In many municipalities people are employed in high positions with high income that do not have the required training, experience, knowledge or abilities. And additional “management” positions are constantly created without providing the related productivity. Many municipalities today have good numbers of employees that are there purely to milk these municipalities dry and are absolute losses to both the municipalities as well as the rate payers. Employ them on the above basis and see how long they would survive. A proper system to control such activities would, however, need to be implemented and this is where the cookie would hit the fan! Most municipalities no longer have effective administration systems left any more either!

To many municipal employees their employers are there purely to pay them a monthly salary and to demand more. In other words, they are employed to be paid a salary – forget the word “WORK”! The question of productivity no longer exists and little is done by management to turn this around in any manner. Many of the municipalities have become political war zones.

Chris Breytenbach

Mantsopa: Disastrous Services

Conratulations on your article “Municipal quagmire!" in the November 2009 edition.

I am the chairman of the Tweespruit Ratepayers Association.

Our Mantsopa Local Muncipality has not had the decency to respond to four registed letters - On at least three occasions the mayor and councillors have just not arrived for meetings they requested. Our sewerage system is disfunctional, a damming enviromental report in August 2005 was totally ignored and raw sewerage is polluting farm dams which eventually flow into the dam from which the town gets water.

The Dept of Water Affairs and Forestry DWAF is investigating. It took numerous faxes and e/mails to NERSA.

Our muncipality does not have a valid licence for the electricity increases. We sent 43 emails to Pres Zuma's helpline who eventually ordered the Free State Dept of Local Government to meet with ratepayers and the Muncipality. The mayor, speaker, etc just did not arrive. Eventually a meeting was held, but are promises to improve things?

Harry Lane
Chairman: Tweespruit Ratepayers
Association
082 438 8949