GPSA Weekly Views

According to an article that was published in the Cape Argus, all is not well with our members of parlaiment down in Cape Town. Our government built a "village" for parlaimentarians where they stay when in the Cape on "government business".

The Cape has been struggling with a huge water shortage for some time now which resulted in some heavy restrictions being put in place. Our politicians and government officials in Acacia Park have decided that these restrictions have nothing to do with them. These guys (and gals) pay the nominal fee of R190 per month for a 3 bedroom house including water and electricity.

Fire hoses are being used to wash cars. This is after their request to be exempted from the cities' curbs were turned down. As so aptly described in the article - 'There is just no political will to make changes'

That's not the only problem with the "leaders" of our country -

"DA MP Mike Lowe said people in the complex used water and electricity "willy nilly". He knew of a family who used to leave their oven on with the door open to warm the house in winter."

According to residents, Acacia Park is chaotic, with burglaries, theft, burgeoning shebeens, sexual assault, vandalism and undisciplined children running riot. And this is supposed to be a "high security" village?

One of Cape Town's three parliamentary villages, which costs the taxpayer R7,5-million a year to run, Acacia Park has suffered a wave of crime and the culprits are widely believed to be MPs' and officials' children and other relatives living in the village.

The installation of burglar bars on the houses had to take a backseat as the department of public works ran out of money - and we thought we had it bad! Anyway, what millenium do they live in where houses are built without burglar bars?

A report on the area includes 88 windows of the village hall being smashed, the removal of locking devices on electrical inspection boxes, damage to fences, removal of street light covers, stolen black rubbish bins thrown into the swimming pool, derogatory graffiti scrawled on walls near houses and flats and water supplies switched off by vandals. Sounds a bit like the "Bronx" here in Jo'burg.

When the Sunday Argus team went there on Saturday we were simply waved through after a police member gave the boot of our car a cursory glance. "And there are security cameras at the entrance but they are not connected to anything," Rossouw said.

And it's not only our "officials" - parliament, which only pays a nominal amount of R10 a year to the Graaff Trust for the land, is apparently three years in arrears.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Argus on March 13, 2005.

But not all is doom and gloom. In spite of the "idiots" we have as parlaimentarians, the people of this country is busy making a major difference. Business Report published an article on The Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP), an initiative that was started with private funding arranged through the Business Trust.

More than 17 000 jobs have been created over the past four years and received funds from The Business Trust and The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, to continue its work for a further three years.

The Business Trust initially estimated that the four year project would create a minimum of 10 000 jobs, the facilitation of R450 million of incremental revenues for small businesses and measurably assisting 1 000 enterprises to grow. That was a fairly conservative estimate as over 2 000 small businesses benefited and over 17 000 jobs were created in the industry.

The TEP's objectives for its next phase of operation include assisting 2 000 small enterprises to create an additional 20 000 jobs, while achieving a target of R1.2 billion in incremental revenue for these enterprises.

Published on the web by Business Report on March 10, 2005.

Good for you. As long as these are sustainable changes, why not. This country can do with this type of job creation and integration of the formerly "disadvantaged" in the economy. What we don't need is time and money pumped into projects which at the end of the day becomes a liaibility for the government and citizen of this country. Prime example is land redistribution where more than half of the farms in black hands have totally collapsed.

Weekly View
	17 March 2005
According to an article that was published in the Cape Argus, all is not well with our members of parlaiment down in Cape Town. Our government built a "village" for parlaimentarians where they stay when in the Cape on "government business". The Cape has been struggling with a huge water shortage for some time now which resulted in some heavy restrictions being put in place. Our politicians and government officials in Acacia Park have decided that these restrictions have nothing to do with them. These guys (and gals) pay the nominal fee of R190 per month for a 3 bedroom house including water and electricity. Fire hoses are being used to wash cars. This is after their request to be exempted from the cities' curbs were turned down. As so aptly described in the article - 'There is just no political will to make changes' That's not the only problem with the "leaders" of our country - "DA MP Mike Lowe said people in the complex used water and electricity "willy nilly". He knew of a family who used to leave their oven on with the door open to warm the house in winter." According to residents, Acacia Park is chaotic, with burglaries, theft, burgeoning shebeens, sexual assault, vandalism and undisciplined children running riot. And this is supposed to be a "high security" village? One of Cape Town's three parliamentary villages, which costs the taxpayer R7,5-million a year to run, Acacia Park has suffered a wave of crime and the culprits are widely believed to be MPs' and officials' children and other relatives living in the village. The installation of burglar bars on the houses had to take a backseat as the department of public works ran out of money - and we thought we had it bad! Anyway, what millenium do they live in where houses are built without burglar bars? A report on the area includes 88 windows of the village hall being smashed, the removal of locking devices on electrical inspection boxes, damage to fences, removal of street light covers, stolen black rubbish bins thrown into the swimming pool, derogatory graffiti scrawled on walls near houses and flats and water supplies switched off by vandals. Sounds a bit like the "Bronx" here in Jo'burg. When the Sunday Argus team went there on Saturday we were simply waved through after a police member gave the boot of our car a cursory glance. "And there are security cameras at the entrance but they are not connected to anything," Rossouw said. And it's not only our "officials" - parliament, which only pays a nominal amount of R10 a year to the Graaff Trust for the land, is apparently three years in arrears. This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Argus on March 13, 2005. But not all is doom and gloom. In spite of the "idiots" we have as parlaimentarians, the people of this country is busy making a major difference. Business Report published an article on The Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP), an initiative that was started with private funding arranged through the Business Trust. More than 17 000 jobs have been created over the past four years and received funds from The Business Trust and The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, to continue its work for a further three years. The Business Trust initially estimated that the four year project would create a minimum of 10 000 jobs, the facilitation of R450 million of incremental revenues for small businesses and measurably assisting 1 000 enterprises to grow. That was a fairly conservative estimate as over 2 000 small businesses benefited and over 17 000 jobs were created in the industry. The TEP's objectives for its next phase of operation include assisting 2 000 small enterprises to create an additional 20 000 jobs, while achieving a target of R1.2 billion in incremental revenue for these enterprises. Published on the web by Business Report on March 10, 2005. Good for you. As long as these are sustainable changes, why not. This country can do with this type of job creation and integration of the formerly "disadvantaged" in the economy. What we don't need is time and money pumped into projects which at the end of the day becomes a liaibility for the government and citizen of this country. Prime example is land redistribution where more than half of the farms in black hands have totally collapsed.	Past Views Current Joke Past jokes Gallery Links Current Exchange Rate Daily News Headlines
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