No 3G cards hamper councillors’ work

AT a previous council meeting, on May 30, the DA was allowed to table a motion of exigency, which I read out to council:

"Noting that MTN has disabled the 3G cards supplied to the metro, due to a payment dispute, resulting in that councillors, who are paying for these, are now without this essential service, which is now hampering service delivery to our communities.”

The political parties were given an opportunity to caucus on this motion, as well as others which were being tabled. When we later reconvened, the speaker announced she was adjourning the meeting because of the Walmer service delivery protests.

We reconvened on Wednesday June 6. The speaker ruled that council must decide whether it wished to hear my motion, as confusion reigned regarding the intention of the motion.

I requested permission to address council to remind members of the content, but I was denied this opportunity by the speaker, despite many comments emanating from the floor that it would be welcomed.

My motion of exigency was put, but denied, with the ANC councillors voting against it.

The implications of this failure by the ANC to accept the motion are enormously impactful on this metro. Councillors have no electronic means with which to contact officials and their constituents.

It should be noted that it is utterly useless trying to fax the municipality instead, as in most instances officials do not receive their faxes.

Many factors affect the delivery of these, some concerning a shortage of working fax machines or simply that faxes are lost once they have been transmitted.

As can be imagined, all this inefficiency and haphazard "organisation” is seriously hampering service delivery in the metro.

Councillors continue to be frustrated while trying to provide essential service delivery to the community, but the ANC is clearly not interested.

The ANC councillors have yet again confirmed they are more concerned about the infighting in their ranks than service delivery to the people who voted for them.