Statement by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
Open letter to Councillor Tony Ehrenreich
Dear Mr Ehrenreich,
Your recent correspondence refers.
At the outset let me state that the concerns you have raised have illustrated
yet again the problem you have of wearing two hats: neither of them fit.
You continue to demonstrate in word and deed that you are incompetent as
the Leader of the Opposition in Council and you are incompetent as COSATU
Provincial Secretary.
You incessantly illustrate that you have no understanding of how local
government actually works in practice nor of the relevant legislation that
governs the functions of local government.
To compound matters, you regularly absent yourself from Council meetings.
Just last week you chose to attend a COSATU meeting in Johannesburg,
rather than attend Council when it was considering the very matters that you
have subsequently complained about.
In your absence, the ANC brought its ungovernanbility campaign into the
Council when members of your caucus violently threw the draft budget on
the floor of the Council, sang songs and danced throughout the Chamber
holding fake guns.
The draft budget which was tabled for public comment provides all the
necessary detail to show that this government delivers to all of the residents
of Cape Town, with a very clear pro-poor bias – with 67% of the proposed
budget allocation directly aimed at service provision to the poor. Your
inability to read complex documents no doubt means that this fact has
passed you by.
Your claim to speak on behalf of the working class also does not stand up to
scrutiny and is simply a gimmick on your behalf. You certainly do not have an
electoral mandate from the working class, the majority of whom did not vote
for you in the last election. Your continued claims therefore to speak for the
working class therefore remains only a figment of your vivid imagination.
I therefore challenge you to provide any concrete proof of wrong doing in
terms of the law (that is if you understand the law) committed by this Council
and if you do, to refer this alleged wrongdoing to the relevant authorities. I
would suggest that you to stick to the law and the facts on such matters, and
not allow your imagination to run away from you, as it so often does.
In order to assist you in this process, I hope that Councillor Sotashe has given
you the gift packet that I gave him on your behalf at the last Council
meeting. The copy of the Constitution, MyCiTi card and map of the city, I
hope will serve to educate you better on the functions of local government
and the geography of this City – matters about which you remain seriously
confused.
Finally, it seems to me that two and half years into the term of this Council
that you have slept like Rip van Winkle and only now woken up to the fact
that the City has changed its corporate identity and pay-off line. Given this
serious failure to execute your duties in this Council, my only advice to the
ANC is that you should be replaced with immediate effect.