Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Power play excuses and ecological disasters

Along with the media, business and the public Africannabis believe that the 'reasons' for the power cuts seem to be wide and varied; and constantly changing, or simply expose the fact that city mangement is actually beyond the scope and capacity of city management, political will and promises.

Dirty job: Cape nature conservation officer Heink Louw and a volunteer attempt to repair a temporary weir in the Sand River canal after the power failures that brought Cape Town to a standstill last week caused millions of litres of raw sewage to pour into wetland nature reserves such as Zandvlei and Zeekoevlei, creating an ecological disaster. Photo: John Yeld, Cape Argus

Businesses and residents in the Western Cape are bracing themselves for more blackouts after an announcement by Eskom that power will again be interrupted due to multiple line faults. Full Story....

Citizens: 'We always vote but our lives don't improve'

"We were promised development a long time ago. Government officials always come and address us with the chief, especially during the elections, but nothing happens," Shangase headman Phenyamadoda Mchunu says while waiting on a dusty road to catch a taxi."We wash ourselves in the [Mdloti] river. The women also wash their clothes in the river. The water is dirty; it's easy to get sick."

The community, which mainly lives in mud rondavels, often enquires about the slow pace of delivery, but they are told there is no money.

"[Minister of Finance] Trevor Manuel has just presented his Budget. We know money has been made available by the government, but it does not reach us. The question is what happens to it."
Mchunu says he sees no point in voting in the local government elections on Wednesday.

"Tell me one reason why I should vote. We always vote but our lives don't improve," he says, wiping his brow in the early-morning heat.

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