Thursday 22 April 2004

This site will be updated on 29 April  2004 at 17:30

 Letters - Briewe

• Does Municipality pay its phone account?
• Waarom geen reaksie op versoek vir spoedwalle?
• Thank you
• Why dogs attack
• Nuwe stem vir Drakenstein
• Wek alle graad tiens dan regtig kommer?
• A cloud of dishonesty (Editorial)

Does Municiaplity pay its phone account?

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LATELY a lot has been said about the dismal financial performance and controls of our local authority, Drakenstein Municipality.

An election is looming and the performance by this Local Authority does not stand out as an example of how things should be run.

I happened to hear from a reliable source that the Paarl Fire Brigade's Telkom connection was disconnected for one and a half hours during the school holidays due to non-payment by Drakenstein Municipality.

So that means should there have been a fire during this period, there was no way of reporting this to the Fire Brigade.

Imagine the tragedy that could have happened should a fire have broken out. Lives could have been lost.

I think the time has come that we as the ratepayers in this town take note of what is happening and remedy the situation.

Colin Prout

The municipal manager of Drakenstein Municipality, Jacques Carstens, replies: The Municipality pays 163 telephone accounts monthly for offices in Paarl, Wellington, Saron, Bainskloof and Gouda.  

Only two payments are made monthly in order to save on costs (Paarl administration is on one cheque and other administration costs are jointly on the other cheque.)  

The account in question was outstanding during the payment of the Paarl administration group of 118 accounts. A duplicate of the outstanding account was on more than one occasion requested from Telkom through e-mail, but was still outstanding at the time of payment due by 15 March.  

A cheque requisition was done on 9 March and payment was done on 12 March at the Paarl Telkom office.

Drakenstein had already made an application at Telkom on 3 March that all accounts should be registered on a government code, that would prevent the cutting of telephone lines as mentioned above.

HIERDIE brief rig ek aan burgemeester Herman Bailey namens die teleurgestelde gemeenskap, bedroefde ouers en jongmense van Deborastraat in Smartie Town, Paarl.

Die gemeenskap uiter 'n noodkreet tot u en u Raad oor die tragiese heengaan van 'n geliefde dogter en vriendin.

Saterdagaand 3 April om sewe-uur het 'n grusame toneel hom afgespeel voor die oë van talle inwoners deur 'n roekelose bestuurder onder die invloed van drank. Ons noem dit brutale moord.

Sy is van die sypaadjie weggeruk en die motor het dwarsdeur 'n heining gebreek, bome uitgeruk, die huis beskadig en op sy dak binne die erf te lande gekom.

Die jong dame, Liza Samaai, is op slag dood. So iets kan ons nie toelaat om weer te gebeur nie.

Ek het twee jaar gelede aansoek gedoen vir spoedwalle. Ek het toe terugvoering gekry dat daar gewerk word volgens 'n waglys.

Na twee jaar het ek die Paarl se strate deurgery en gesien hoe min daar gedoen was aangaande spoedwalle.

Ons in Smartie Town eis dat daar onmiddellik aandag aan hierdie versoek gegee word.

Die mense is ongelukkig en daar is sprake van paaie wat hulle voel moet gesluit word.

F Davey

Die verkeersafdeling sal versoek word om intussen van tyd tot tyd die nodige wetstoepassing in te stel waar die ongeluk plaasgevind het.

SO many of the organisers at the Paarl Town Hall on voting day were extremely kind and polite to me.

I am an old woman with a cane and one young man kindly offered me his arm, and took me straight to the voting point. Bless his heart.

Thank you to a few others also.

M Hodes

I REFER to the report about the woman who was attacked by a dog in Paarl Post of 25 March.

Dogs are bred for dog-fighting, they are tied up with chains and become vicious.

The police should act and confiscate these dogs.

Animal lover

AS oudredaksielid van die Paarl Post weet ek dat hierdie stem van Drakenstein al vir baie jare een van die heel beste gemeenskapskoerante in die land is.

Al was die ou voorkoms juis versinnebeelding van baie dekades se goeie joernalistieke diens aan die gemeenskap, is daar sekerlik tyd vir verandering.

Die nuwe skoner en meer moderne voorkoms, wat nou by die voorste internasionale tendense inskakel, is 'n toonbeeld van die gehalte wat met voortdurende selfondersoek en vernuwing gepaard gaan. Dit lyk werklik goed.

Aan die redakteur en haar bekwame span, dit is voorwaar (nog steeds) 'n produk om op trots te wees.

Johan Viljoen, Brackenfell

EK is self 'n graad tien leerder in die Paarl. Nadat ek die berig "Bankvas in graad 10" in die Paarl Post van 29 Januarie oor die swak uitslae van die graad tiens gelees het, was ek hoogs teleurgesteld en bekommerd.

In my klasseksie is die meerderheid kinders hardwerkend en kan goed lees, skryf, spel en tel.

Hoekom dan nog steeds die gegons? Omdat ons misgekyk word.

Die minderheid wat kommer wek is soms net bra lui om te leer.

Hoekom kon ons ander dit voorheen regkry om die nodige studievaardighede aan te leer, maar hulle nie?

Dit sal ook help as ouers meer belang stel (by ouervergaderings is dit dikwels die swak presteerders wie se ouers nie daar is nie), sodat almal saam 'n oplossing probeer vind vir die swak prestasies.

Ongelukkig

IF you cannot trust your funeral undertaker, who can you trust?

That was the question raised by a distraught daughter who was denied the honour of giving her mother a dignified burial, because of the malpractices of a Paarl funeral undertaker.

On Saturday the same undertaker's integrity was again clouded after he abandoned a body at a busy Paarl East service station.

Perhaps worse than leaving the decomposing body in the open trailer, was that the bereaved family were under the impression that their son had already been cremated.

At the same time on Saturday, a young girl also fell prey to a man in a position of trust.

She was lured to a Paarl welfare office, drugged and then raped behind the locked doors.

The alleged rapist is well-known in community service circles - not only as promoter of girls' dreams to become famous, but as a so-called legal advisor and more recently, as lay preacher warning young girls about immorality.

With trust being broken in all walks of life, what are we to expect from the politicians for whom we waited in queues to vote into Parliament?

Will they keep their promises for longer than the first week after being elected?  Let's be positive and hope that the community will - at long last - be pleasantly surprised by people in positions of trust.