Snippets from the week

The Mercury of Monday, November 10, 2008 reported, amongst other things, that:

• The city hall organ, which is unserviceable as reported here, is not going to be fixed. This according to municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, who said that fixing the organ was not a priority and that it was not something that ratepayers should paying for. The city can't afford a couple of million to fix an organ dating back to 1894 but it can afford billions for an unecessary football stadium??
• A local artist Jenny Cullinan held a Dirty Durban exhibition at the Botanic Gardens consisting of photographs of the filth and litter in Durban. The pictures were apparently all taken after the end of the Durban Solid Waste strike.

The Mercury of Tuesday, November 11, 2008 reported, amongst other things, that:

• That a heist had taken place the previous day in Maphumulo in rural KZN. Sixteen men, armed with assault rifles and pistols, had ambushed a convoy taking money to a pensions pay point, killing two policemen and critically wounding two others. By the sounds of things, the robbers drove up to and opened fire on the police vehicle without warning.
  

The Mercury of Wednesday, November 12, 2008 reported, amongst other things, that:

• There was a growing tide of protest at the decision not to fix the city hall organ.
• Moses Mabhida Stadium visitor's centre manager Florina Maphalala was quoted as saying that the stadium would be like Durban's Table Mountain - a great tourist attraction. She apparently doesn't think she'll be watching the world cup final because it would conflict with her Christian beliefs.
  

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DSW strike

A short article in the Mercury of October 21, 2008, says that DSW refuse workers currently working for agencies will be able to apply for full-time jobs with the municipality when positions are advertised later this year. Apparently, 25% of DSW are hired through agencies. Deputy city manager Derek Naidoo has apparently said that all agency workers would NOT automatically be hired. I hope this will not be the start of more trouble if the current temporary workers see other people getting employed.

In the meantime, I took a drive through the centre of Durban today and was struck by the fact that it looked quite a lot less filthy than usual. That's progress, I suppose.

On another topic, I don't know if it's my imagination but I have the feeling that deputy city manager Derek Naidoo is being quoted in the papers a lot more lately. In the past, Mike Sutcliffe rather dominated whenever city officials were quoted and it makes me wonder if there's something cooking behind the scenes.
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Snippets from the week

I had intended to use this blog on a very occasional basis to record noteworthy things happening around the city but I'm starting to feel withdrawal symptoms if I should miss a couple of days, as happened this week when I had to go away on business. So here goes...

The Mercury of October 14, 2008, reported that Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, was recently voted best mayor in the world. See mention of a reader's letter, below, for an explanation of why this is unlikely to happen in Durban. Also, according to the paper, Independent bus operators have refused Remant Alton's offer for them to take over its routes for fear of being targeted by striking workers.

The Mercury of October 15, 2008, reported that police had arrested two men for alledgedly plotting to kill a Durban Solid Waste Manager. They were arrested in Sydney Road and their car was to to contain two revolvers, ammunition, and some petrol bombs. In other news, Alfred Zondi, the chairman of the KZN Bus Council, called on the KZN Transport MEC Bheki Cele to intervene in the dispute between Remant Alton and its striking workers.

The requirements of Fifa for the World Cup in 2010 sound draconian to say the least. The Mercury reported 2010 Project Head Julie-May Ellingson as saying that, by 2010, the city will be empowered to immediately remove offending signage from buildings, especially anything which conflicts with Fifa's requirements. At the moment, the city needs a court order before it can remove signage and that's fine by me.

It's a puzzle why we should tolerate such interference in our affairs. It would have been better in the longrun to have told Fifa to keep their World Cup. It seems that the city is running out of money (not surprising when you consider the extravagance onvolved in the new stadium) because Ellingson also appealed to business for R15-million to upgrade facilities around the stadium.

In another story, the eThekwini Municipality was awarded the best credit rating of any municpality in Africa. This is bad news as far as I'm concerned, because our masters are surely going to be tempted to borrow more money on the strength of that.

Residents around Inanda Dam have been warned not to eat fish caught in the dam or vegetables grown nearby. Apparently the water has been found to contain elevayed levels of Mercury. A further study is to done.

The Mercury of October 16, 2008, reported that riot police, snipers and helicopters had prevented a march by Remant Alton and Durban Solid Waste workers through Durban the previous day. City Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the decision had been taken for security reason because the march had the potential to turn violent.

Sounds to me like something that a National Party functionary might have said in the bad old days, not a senior member of an organistion that, itself, has a long history of fighting against injustice. You'd expect the authorities to be more sympathetic to workers who feel they are victims of injustice but I guess its only injustice if it's done to you, not if its done by you...

The paper also reports that environmental affairs and tourism depty minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi has spoken negatively about the city's loss of its Blue Flag beaches. The comments were made the previous day at a meeting at the Point Yacht club to launch a national action plan to protect our coastline. A brochure describing the plan apparently says that the loss of Blue Flag status could have a severe impact on tourism and business.

A reader's letter, signed 'Saddened', in the Independent on Saturday, of October 18, 2008, has some comments about the recent award of Best Mayor in the World to Helen Zille, mayor of Cape Town. The reader says that he or she recently spent a week in Cape Town and found the streets to clean and well-maintained, that the traffic signals all worked and that he or she felt safe walking around in the evening. This contrasts strongly with the situation in Durban and the writer wonders whether this has anything to do with the fact that the DA is running Cape Town and the ANC, with its pre-occupation with minor issues such as street-renaming, is running this city.
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Taxi strike?

The Natal Mercury of October 9, 2008, reported that the minibus taxi industry is threatening to strike in sympathy with the striking Durban Solid Waste & Remant Alton workers. The threat was made by KZN Transport Alliance Chairman Eugene Hadebe.

Meanwhile, at the launch of the SA Communist Party's Red October campaign in Umlazi on Thursday, secretary-general Blade Nzimande called on the municipality to sort out the strike forthwith. I agree with this sentiment but can't help wondering how on earth there can possibly be still be a communist party in this day and and age.

The paper has a splendid aerial picture of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and a number of other vessels, including the SAS Drakensberg and SAS Isandlwana, particpating in exercises (Operation Flower II) off Durban. So that's why needed we needed those smart and expensive frigates!
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Another truck torched

The natal Mercury of October 9, 2008, reported that a fifth vehicle belonging to Durban Solid Waste had been set alight the previous day, Wednesday.

As I've said before, I have some sympathy with the strikers but I cannot condone arson or attacks of any sort in furtherance of their aims. I'm sure the majority of the strikers are honest decent people but attacks of this nature are likely to set people against them.

The same paper reports that talks are to begin between the ANC and the IFP about the proposal to rename of Mangosuthu Highway fter Griffiths Mxenge, an ANC activist.
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Short updates

The bits and pieces of news have been piling up so I thought I'd have a clear-out.

Sunday Tribune - October 5, 2008.

The paper reports that there are plans to declare the beachfront area a glass-free zone and outlaw public drinking. This is in response to the events described I described here. In addition, on the Friday night, there was a strong police presence and mini-bus taxis and buses were barred from entering the beachfront area. There are apparently also plans to keep a track of where buses and taxis come from in future.

In act assumed to be somehow connected with the bus drivers' strike, 19 buses were set alight at the depot at Ntuzuma early on Friday morning. A picture in the Tribune shows the buses absolutely gutted and one doubts if they could ever be repaired. This is not the first time that Remant Alton buses have been set alight, with 59 having been burnt in an attack on the Umlazi depot on April 23, 2006. You would have thought that with that experience, and given the present tense situation, they would have stepped up security at ther depots.

The Mercury, October 6, 2008

The paper reports that commuters are likely to be without buses for another week.

The Mercury, October 7, 2008

A heist at the Riverside Hotel (ex Athlone) netted millions in jewells which were going to be auctioned at the hotel. The robbery took place at 7am on October 6, as the jewells were being moved into the auction area.

I've already noted that two Durban Solid Waste trucks were set alight last Wednesday. Two more were burnt in an attack at 11pm on the DSW depot at Clairwood onOctober, 4. The paper reported that 80% of DSW workers were back on the job and that some collections were being done over the weekend. As noted in an earlier post, our rubbish was collected today in Waterfall.

The Mercury, October 8, 2008

The paper reports Remant Alton as having closed down indefinitely as result of the the three week drivers' strike. Executive officer Paul Rush said that the company was planning to recruit sub-contractors to operate its routes. Now, that should be fine recipe for chaos. And there could be more on the way if strikers go ahead with plans to march through town on Friday, in spite of being refused permission by the city to do so. I find it ironic that a city run by the ANC, an organisation founded to fight for democracy, has no problem denying others the right to protest.
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What a relief!

The familiar sound of a rubbish truck compacting garbage floated into the complex yesterday. When I left to go to work, a crew was still busy loading the garbage from last week. DSW's return to work caught us on the hop, a bit, because we hadn't taken out this week's bags. Next week for sure.
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Waste matters

The Mercury of October 2, 2008, also reported that two Durban Solid Waste trucks were set alight on the previous day in separate incidents.

Those must be the trucks that were on they way to our complex because I see that, onn Sunday, we still have a rubbish Matterhorn outside our gates, which has now received plenty of attention from passersby and dogs.

The strike of DSW workers was inevitable, said Independent Municipal & Allied Trade Union spokesman Dempsey Perumal, due to the fact that the municipality was employing workers through agencies on a long-term basis. Agency staff were paid less than than municipal workers and did not receive any benefits which, said Deputy City Manager Derek Naidoo, saved the municipality a lot of money. The Mercury gives the example of an agency-employed street sweeper earning R1200 a month.

To my mind, there may be an odd occasion when using agency staff is justified but that it is mostly the refuge of organisations out to circumvent racial employment quotas or save money, no matter what the cost to workers. It is a process that is apparently legal but often times not that ethical, and I am genuinely surprised that eThekwini Municipality would stoop that low. This situation is attributable either to deliberate policy or gross inefficiency but I don't suppose we will really ever know.

*** This issue of The Mercury has a page devoted to the street names which were recently changed and who they were originally named after.
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Uh oh, is right

I see that the mini-Matterhorn of rubbish at the gate of our complex is still there. That means that the workers from Durban Solid Waste must still be on strike. Joy!

Uh oh!

I've just been to the gate of our complex and spied a minor Matterhorn of black and orange rubbish bags. Seems as if our Tuesday morning collection didn't take place and that the DSW strike has spread this far.