If replies to questions asked of ANC Joburg ward 58 by-election candidate, Muhammed Cajee is anything to go by, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think that he was a Democratic Alliance plant to sabotage the ANC’s election campaign to ensure that the ANC loses this election.
Allow me to explain what I mean: I am basing everything I say on what Mr Cajee has said to a local community paper where, by Cajee’s own unambiguous admission, the ward is in serious decay thanks to ANC complacency. In typical ANC–style, Mr Cajee displays his prejudiced and racist stance when he says that he believes “that it is strategically wrong for the Indian and Coloured communities to marginalise” themselves. This is shocking and shows clearly that he is a person interested in only certain people in the ward whilst ignoring others. The DA candidate Osman Cassiem, on the other hand, works with all people and is not prejudiced.
Cajee says that we “should rather be speaking out against corruption and the lack of service deliver from within the ANC”. How amazing that Cajee in the same breathe admits that the ANC is corrupt and that their service delivery is lacking and then also invites voters to join those very people causing this! The facts are that where the DA governs no corruption and lack of delivery exists.
In response as to whether belonging to the ANC would make a difference in governing the ward; Muhammed Cajee responds “absolutely” but fails to explain how it would be different now after 10 years of ANC mismanagement and non-service delivery. He brags at how he has met certain Joburg ANC political leaders “to discuss the issues that we need to deal with in the ward” should he be elected. Why haven’t they been around before and why are they waiting only until the election takes place? Is he saying that when the DA wins the ward those same members of the Mayor Committee won’t be resolving issues? Not only would this be a slap in the face to the good residents of the ward, it would be illegal and unconstitutional. Naturally, we would fight this and we would win.
Cajee admits that residents in Mayfair for example “are struggling with congestion, illegal businesses, and the flouting of by-laws and residents in Fordsburg are dealing with grime, dumping, littering and congestion”. All this is thanks to the ANC who has historically controlled these areas and have sat on their hands. Now “suddenly” Cajee believes things will change. What a joke! Exactly what has he been doing in the meantime? Previous ward Cllr Zaytoon Waja was able to make a great difference in the ward by what she did under her guardianship. DA candidate Osman Cassiem has himself been resolving issues in the area and he isn’t even a councillor yet! He was involved in operations against illegal businesses in the area whilst the ANC was present objecting to us insisting on by-laws being respected.
Throughout his replies Cajee keeps on talking about “lobbying” and “building relationships” with politicians and officials to resolve matters in the ward. Cajee shows his lack of understanding on how legislation pertaining to local government operates. He implies that it is only in having “connections” with certain people within the Municipality that things will get done. This confirms the ANC’s shocking mentality that only through “connections” will things get done. The fact that the City has no choice legally but to do their job to resolve the issues in the ward escapes Cajee.
I had to read it twice over when I read that Cajee would “bring diverse interest groups together to put solutions on the table for upgrading parks; dealing with vagrancy; illegal trading and congestion; crime and grime; dumping; homelessness and unemployment, and so on”. What rubbish! This is the usual ANC style of not actually tackling these issues. No one needs to get together! Meetings are not needed. Stakeholders and interest groups do not need to meet. The City needs to do its job. Finished and klaar! This is what the community wants! A committed councillor that will ensure that officials come into the ward to resolve issues is what’s needed. The community doesn’t need a councillor who doesn’t actually deal with issues but instead brings “diverse interest groups together” achieving nothing.
Cajee tells us that “the ward doesn’t have a single safe and accessible park with decent facilities” and then refers to similar facilities in other wards in excellent conditions namely, Zoo Lake and Delta Park. What he doesn’t tell voters is that the reason why those two parks are top-notch is because of committed, dedicated and hardworking DA councillors who make sure these parks and the rest of their wards remain in these conditions!
Cajee then insults the residents of ward 58 by naming one of his targets to “upgrade at least one park in this ward to be safe and accessible”. The DA plans to deal with all parks!
The people of ward 58 will simply not vote for the ANC candidate as he provides no solutions and is doing nothing presently. Instead of talking about dealing with local schools and education, which falls under provincial powers and have nothing to do with local government, he should have started actually dealing with the many issues in the ward. He simply hasn’t.
However, what the ANC has done in the meantime is destroy, steal and take down our posters erected on street poles. The ANC have placed their posters over DA posters and even taken our own poster string to erect ANC posters. Of course all this is illegal as it goes against the Electoral Act. Just as importantly is that this is also a clear demonstration of the modus operandi of the ANC. They disregard the law and simply do as they like, like erecting posters on trees. Why then would anyone want to logically vote ANC? No me!
Yours Sincerely,
Manny de Freitas MP
Shadow Minister of Home Affairs
Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South
No comments:
Post a Comment