eThekwini Online - Mayor's Blog http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog This is the mayor's blog. eThekwini Online - Mayor's Blog http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/logo.jpg Honouring Women Who Sought Freedom http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/08/11/honouring-women-who-sought-freedom There have been suggestions from certain quarters... To set the record straight, I believe the initiative is worthy and entirely deserving of all the attention it receives. Women’s month is important to us because it is an opportunity to officially recognise and pay tribute to the contribution women made in our country’s struggle for freedom. For many years women have been looked down upon. As a matter of fact, they have often been relegated to the level and status of children.

This is partly the consequence of our cultural background, but as responsible citizens we need to understand that culture is dynamic. We should allow it to develop and take its natural course. Women played a major role in our struggle for liberation. The women’s march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, in 1956, in protest against the pass laws, shook the world. Women such as Lillian Ngoyi were in the forefront of the struggle. She led a march of more than 20 000women of all races, in a move wholly initiated by women.

Former President Nelson Mandela once wrote: “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression”. The African National Congress has always fought against the oppression of women. As early as the 1950s, the ANC had already included women in its ranks in senior decision making committees.

So we are recognising women this month because it was in August of 1956 that women vowed to face the apartheid regime head on. We are aware that the total liberation of women from oppression cannot happen overnight. For this reason, it remains our duty to change the mentality of certain individuals so that they come to view women as their equals. We salute all women, especially for their role in the liberation struggle by fighting oppression.

To them we say Igama Lamakhosikazi Malibongwe. (Let us salute the role of women!) 2008-08-11T11:55+00:00 2008-08-14 13:13:40 Thumboo We Can Learn From Madiba's Humility http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/07/30/we-can-learn-from-madibas-humility We have just celebrated the 90th birthday of one of the world’s living legends It was heartwarming to watch this great man making an appearance on television after a long period of in activity. I was particularly pleased because I thought of how blessed we are in Kwa Zulu-Natal to have a man of his stature linked to the province. Mandela has always had a special relationship with this city. In one of his speeches he once said that when he left his hometown as a young man he was torn between coming to Durban and going to Johannesburg.

He decided on Johannesburg because he had friends and relatives who worked on the mines there. Durban was the first city to give him the freedom of the city in 1999. He made the Kwa Zulu-Natal province proud when, in our first democratic elections in 1994, he cast his vote at Inanda’s Ohlange Institute, which is in eThekwini.

Mandela’s association with this province dates back to the early 1960s, when he surprised everyone by showing up at a meeting –The All Africa Symposium, where no one expected him because of the risks involved in him attending. At that meeting, in Pietermaritzburg, he made a moving speech, which sent a chill down the spines of many attending. Afterwards, he was smuggled out to avoid the police security branch.

Upon his release in 1990, he spent some time before coming to Durban and in one of his interviews when he was asked if he had any plans of visiting the leader of the IFP, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, he said he needed to collect himself before coming to Durban. And when he came to Durban it was not an in-and-out situation like he did in other cities. He spent a night in this city.

We are indeed blessed to have a man of his calibre and humility associated with our city.

- Mayor Obed Mlaba 2008-07-30T14:51+00:00 2008-08-01 15:26:18 Thumboo Poll Position: Make Sure You Have An ID http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/07/21/poll-position-make-sure-you-have-an-id We have just passed the halfway mark for the year. Good things have happened and all along we were sure 2008 was going to be a good year, until we were disappointed by the power outages. We dealt with that problem and as we were preparing to focus on the year ahead, we were disturbed by the attacks on foreigners. Surely, we have reached a stage in our democracy where we should be able to transcend such senseless violence. Now that we have crossed that bridge, we face the challenge of ensuring that all our people are in possession of identity documents.

As we prepare for the national elections next year, we should begin to educate all those who have yet to understand the importance of their votes in determining the direction this country should take, politically. The next two years will keep us all very busy. After the national elections we shall focus our attention on the 2010 World Cup.

This is why we need to start now making sure that all those who have reached a legal age to have an identity document should apply so that they are not left out when the time for voting comes. Applying for identity documents timeously will guarantee people have enough time to register with the Independent Electoral Commission as voters.

I want to plead with our people, especially those who are in higher positions, to start educating their fellows on voting procedures.

The elections should be run in a manner that will show the world that we are indeed a democracy and all what we do is done in a democratic manner. The struggle that we engaged in more than 300 years ago is not over yet. There are people out there who still think we shall fail to run this country and we shall go back to them begging that they come back and rule us. Let us not play into their hands.

- Mayor Obed Mlaba 2008-07-21T12:59+00:00 2008-07-21 11:02:10 Thumboo Xenophobia In The eThekwini Metro http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/06/18/xenophobia-in-the-ethekwini-metro Our government will do all within its power to see to it that the same does not reoccur. For the past few weeks we have witnessed senseless killings of foreign people by South Africans who were hell bent on achieving their criminal goals, masquerading them as xenophobia. A number of innocent lives were lost and hundreds of these foreigners lost their belongings in the process. Although these so-called xenophobic killings were of great proportions, we are glad that they did not spread throughout the country.

In our province it was just isolated incidents that occurred but sanity soon prevailed. It is a fact that people from KwaZulu-Natal are very accommodative to others. It was just a few criminal elements that wanted to taint the good image of our province.
 
The Police Service acted promptly and with authority. This is a job well done and they need to be commended. We are not so clear about the intentions of those who started these violent acts, except to say that we noticed a high level of criminal activities during that period. I am very pleased by the reaction of the African states whose citizens were attacked. They showed a great level of maturity and understood that these killings were motivated by criminality.

We are all aware of the mixed feelings which our people had before our national soccer team went to play in Nigeria. Some people were saying members of Bafana Bafana would be killed in Nigeria, but instead they were given a warm welcome.

This is what we expect other countries to do. The South African government is dealing with the issue and solutions to these problems will soon be found. Some of these foreigners have begun going back to the communities they were living in before they were attacked. As government, we would be failing in our duties if we do not condemn these senseless killings.

Xenophobia, in its all forms is totally unacceptable and our government will do all within its power to see to it that the same does not reoccur. Our plea to the local people is that they should give these people some space and if there are some of them who engage in criminal activities, let them report such people to the relevant authorities who will allow the law to take its course. 2008-06-18T12:31+00:00 2008-06-18 10:36:10 Thumboo World Cup Spin-offs Are Already Apparent http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/04/21/world-cup-spin-offs-are-already-apparent In the end, our city and country will be the winner. When Fifa President, Sepp Blatter announced that South Africa had been selected to host the 2010 World Cup, the news was received indifferent fashions by different people. There are those skeptics who thought South Africa would not be able to host such an august event. They cited many reasons for this, reasons which were of concern to the government too. There were some who saw the announcement as the start of a road to riches. It is true that our government would like to see many South Africans benefiting from this event.

It is true there are those who are going to make a fortune out of this event and there are also those who will not benefit at all. Yes, the country will benefit and those who do not benefit directly will still gain because the country will be able to provide other services, which it otherwise would not have been able to provide.

Fifa officials recently visited Durban to inspect the progress made in building the stadiums, and we were excited by the report we received. Fifa was excite  to learn that we were progressing well and that the Moses Mabhida stadium was expected to be completed at least two months ahead of schedule. But preparing for the World Cup is not about stadiums alone.

Our information technology and transport system have to be up to world standard. Law enforcement is another important aspect for a successful World Cup. And I am pleased to see that there has been a significant drop in crime in our city. This is according to a recent Criminal Analysis conducted by the Metro Police and South African Police Services. We are not yet where we want to be but we are getting there. The involvement of our people in fighting crime has contributed immensely to this drop in crime. I challenge our communities to keep on reporting criminals.

In the end, our city and country will be the winner. We are already enjoying some of the spin-offs of the 2010 World Cup.

Obed Mlaba
EThekwini Mayor 2008-04-21T18:15+00:00 2008-05-14 15:18:45 Thumboo Delivery Depends On Us Paying Our Dues http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/mayor/mayors-blog/archive/2008/04/17/delivery-depends-on-us-paying-our-dues The legacy of apartheid will be with us for a long time to come. When the democratic government came into being in 1994 we were ambitious and thought we could reverse the evils of the past within a short space of time. We have now come to realise that some of our objectives were unrealistic. We worked on the assumption that the public would have an attitude change and start paying their dues. We were wrong.

 
Service delivery is linked to payment for services rendered. And there is reluctance on the part of some of our people to pay for services. The Municipality is owed billions in outstanding rates and tariffs. This puts the brakes on service delivery. It means we don’t have as much money as we would like to build roads, and provide houses, electricity and other infrastructure. The Municipality has, nevertheless, made considerable strides in service delivery. It has kept its promise, but is being held back by those who fail to pay their share.

Durban is a fast growing city and the Municipality has embarked on a campaign to give it a facelift. There are parks inmost of eThekwini’s townships and they are maintained regularly by the Municipality. Street lighting has also been improved. The Municipality has adopted a consultative approach. There is a process of consultation, which gives people a platform to state their needs in their order of priority. There is a great diversity of needs but there is also considerable unanimity when it comes to what people view as important.

We are aware that unemployment remains high, but people must still make an effort to pay their rates. Those who cannot afford the full amount should make an arrangement to pay at least some of their debt. Just imagine what the City could do if all those who owe rates could make a commitment to pay at least a R100 a month towards their debt. That money would go a long way to bringing services to the people. Let us all do our bit and pay out dues.

 2008-04-17T13:05+00:00 2008-04-17 14:13:59 spencera1