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Web site: www.skygeek.com Government doesn't care about our safety
Author Topic: Government doesn't care about our safety (Read 1657 times)
« on: February 20, 2007, 01:59:05 pm »
Here follow a few articles that prove the government only care about themselves and don't give a damn about their citizens.
Pres. Thabo Mbeki kry â€™n peperduur veiligheidsmuur wat na bewering R90 miljoen kos rondom sy ampswoning in Pretoria.
â€™n Sluier van geheimhouding is gister getrek nadat Beeld navraag begin doen het oor diÃ© nuwe muur om die president se huis op die Bryntirion-landgoed.
DiÃ© projek sal waarskynlik baie mense se wenkbroue laat lig nadat Mbeki verlede maand in â€™n TV-onderhoud gesÃª het daar is â€œ â€˜ â€™n persepsieâ€™ dat misdaad buite beheer isâ€.
Hy het diÃ© mening aansienlik gewysig in sy staatsrede. â€œOns kan beslis nie dit wat lelik en afstootlik is in die land oorkom en die vreugde van vryheid smaak as ons gemeenskap in vrees lewe, toegesluit agter mure en lemmetjiesdraad nie,â€ het hy toe gesÃª.
â€™n Werknemer van JFE Securities het gister bevestig sy maatskappy bou die muur, maar wou nie â€™n woord rep oor die besonderhede nie.
â€œEk mag nie daaroor praat nie. Daar is â€™n paar geheimhoudingsklousules in die kontrak,â€ het hy benadruk.
Mabuza, â€™n voormalige werknemer van die departement van openbare werke wat nou haar eie onderneming het, het eers gesÃª sy werk nie met die projek nie, maar tydens â€™n tweede oproep gesÃª: â€œEk weet daarvan, maar ek hanteer nie die media se navrae nie.â€
Mabuza het voorts gesÃª: â€œDie projek het niks met Beeld te make nie; jy praat met die verkeerde persoon.â€
Mnr. Lucky Mochalibane van die departement van openbare werke het gesÃª die departement sal vandag kommentaar lewer:
â€œDit is â€™n sensitiewe aangeleentheid, maar beslis nie â€™n geheim nie. Ons sal mÃ´re (vandag) â€™n verklaring uitreik.â€
Mnr. Mukoni Ratshitanga, woordvoerder van die presidensie, het navrae na die departement van openbare werke verwys: â€œDit is die departement se eiendom. HÃºlle besluit wat by die presidensie gebeur.â€
Ratshitanga wou nie sÃª of die huidige misdaadsituasie â€™n rol gespeel het in die besluit om die muur op te rig nie.
Re: Government doesn't care about our safety
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2007, 03:40:13 pm »
What security could possibly be needed that isn't already in place and for what?
R 90 million could pay almost 1600 new policemen for a year. (See the bottom of THIS article).
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2007, 03:41:57 pm »
Manuel defends police salaries
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel firmly believes South African policeman are not underpaid.
An irritated Manuel was speaking yesterday in a National Assembly debate on his Adjustments Appropriation Bill.
Manuel also echoed comments by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula that there were enough patrol cars.
He was responding to queries by Democratic Alliance MP Manie van Wyk, who questioned the governmentâ€™s commitments to fighting crime.
Van Wyke said no extra money had been given to the police during the budget adjustment last month, despite the fact that the service was battling with logistical problems.
He said it was scandalous that of the R80-billion the government made available in the medium term expenditure framework, the police and justice departments were getting a mere R1,1-billion per year between the two of them over the next two years.
â€œItâ€™s a shame that government is neglecting its constitutional duties to protect its citizens,â€ he said.
But Manual questioned Van Wykâ€™s reasoning, saying: â€œNow let me just say to members of this house that the unit cost of police is higher than the unit costs of both departments of health and education. Itâ€™s a fact.
â€œWe should not repeat the lie that the police in South Africa are underpaid. It cannot be correct.â€
Urging any sceptic to draw international comparisons, Manuel further said that the police could also not claim a shortage of vehicles as an excuse not to attend a crime scene.
â€œI know that this thing is held up frequently that the police have too few motor vehicles. I want to stand at this lectern and say it is without the foundation of truth.â€
While Manuel agreed that there might be argument for more efficient spending of resources, he felt, however, â€œthe resources are thereâ€.
Refusing to adopt parliamentary protocol by calling the MP â€œthe honourableâ€, he instead addressed him as â€œVan Wykâ€ and urged him to break from his â€œapartheid mindsetâ€.
â€œHe blames everything on affirmative action. There is nothing wrong, in fact, the productivity and outputs of this government are a heck of a lot better than the time he served in government in the apartheid state, as representative of a minority serving the interest of a minority and ignoring all of our needs,â€ Manuel said.
Meanwhile Police and Prisonâ€™s Civil Rights Union spokesperson Boiki Tsudu disagreed with Manuel, stating that junior police officers were still very underpaid.
â€œIn all earnest, there is still a problem with salary disparities, especially at entry level,â€ he said.
He added that a junior policeman could expect to receive about R57 000 a year.
Tsudu agreed, though, that the problem concerning resources within the SA Police Service was largely being aggravated by bad management.
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2007, 03:45:58 pm »
Why is the biggest problem in the country only getting 1.375% of the medium term expenditure framework budget?
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2007, 04:01:14 pm »
Mbeki's no-frills crime fight
By Angela Quintal The Star 16/02/07
'I have never had the courage for theatrical gestures'
President Thabo Mbeki has recommitted his government to do everything to fight crime - but made it clear he was not about to become a drama queen, resorting to empty theatrics or flagellation.
He was replying yesterday to the two-day state of the nation debate in parliament, dominated by opposition concerns about crime, and suggestions that he did not care about or was not empathising sufficiently with victims.
Mbeki singled out African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe who, during the debate, was among the most strident critics. He had warned that the 2010 World Cup might be scuppered because of violent crime in SA.
The president quoted ANC MP Molefi Sefularo, who had argued during the debate that Meshoe "chose to take upon himself the task of amplifying the voices that insist that the president, the government and the ANC do not care about the tragedy and pain of those who fall victim to crime".
"Like the Pharisees, he wants the president to wear sackcloth and flagellate himself," Sefularo had said.
Mbeki told MPs he too had heard the voices referred to by Sefularo.
"This I must say - for 64 years I have never had either the ability or the courage or the need to resort to grand theatrical gestures."
The president said most South Africans would be offended if he gave in to the demands of the Pharisees and "take to the stage to weep tears meant for the camera, to convince them of what they know - that the ANC for the first time in 95 years has at last understood their pain, and is at one with them in lamenting individual tragedies".
"There will be no empty theatrical gestures, no prancing on the stage and no flagellation, but we will continue to act against crime, as decisively as we have sought to do throughout the years of our liberation."
Mbeki told MPs that the police budget in the 1994/95 financial year was R7,7-billion, rising by more than 600% to R43-6 billion for the 2009/10 financial year.
Moreover, the number of police officers had increased from 116 774 in the 2001/02 financial year, and in 2008/09 would stand at 183 000.
"What this means is that in seven years we will have increased the size of the police service by at last 67 000 officers, significantly more than 50% of its size in 2001/02."
Mbeki also spoke approvingly of a suggestion by United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa that a steering committee be formed of all stakeholders to begin identifying areas where debate needed to be deepened as a nation.
On parliament itself, and the issue of Travelgate - which Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said had sullied MPs - Mbeki said that in interacting with South Africans he had not heard the view that the House "was being little more than a den of thieves".
However, he urged parliament to do "everything possible and necessary to maintain the integrity and dignity of this premier expression of the will of the people".
Referring to the president's criticism of his views, Meshoe reminded him that personal attacks did not detract from the seriousness of the situation.
"We will continue to maintain that if crime is not drastically reduced and, at best, eradicated, South Africa might lose the privilege of hosting 2010 - something we do not want to see happen."
Pan Africanist Congress MP Motsoko Pheko said while the president acknowledged there was a problem with crime in theory, in practice not much was happening.
"It is not visible on the ground. So much money has been spent and there are so many police. The statistics are still frightening," said Pheko.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille cautioned that the debate over crime was threatening "to tear us apart".
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2007, 04:23:24 pm »
for 64 years I have never had either the ability or the courage or the need to resort to grand theatrical gestures.
or the courage to look after your citizens.
what a wonderful idea, take a few months and a couple of million rand to form a steering committee. The steering committee can then take another year or so, along with another couple of million rand, to begin identifying areas where debate is needed. Once areas have been identified, then you can hold a party and press conference to celebrate. Then you can take another few years and many millions of rands to decide who debates what. Then maybe you can actually start to debate what needs to be done, set up a commission of enquiry to see if the decision is feasable, decide who needs to carry out the decision, give them pots of money to do it, and eventually send a few friends to jail (training camp) because the money dissapeared, only to release them a month later because the president has a birthday.