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NEWS12 February 2010 Page 3
Valentine’sDay at lake JUST Jinjer will kick off theOld Mutual Music at theLake concert series with aValentine’s performance onSunday, at the DurbanBotanic Gardens.
They will be performingtracks from their latestalbum, Milk & Honies.
The gates open at4.30pm.
Tickets are R80 (R60 forchildren six to 12) if bookedin advance throughTunegum.com, or R100 atthe gate.
Parking is available on theJuventus ground, off lowerSt Thomas Road, and atMunies Hockey Field.
For more information, call031 309 1170.
Deadline timefor writers THE 13th Time of the Writerfestival runs in Durban from9 to 13 March.
Evening readings, booklaunches and discussionswill take place at theElizabeth Sneddon Theatre,University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Day activities include visitsto schools and pupils areinvited to enter a short storywriting competition. Entriesmust be submitted by 17February to the Centre forCreative Arts at UKZN, e-mailed to [email protected],or faxed to 031 260 3074.
World Cupticket salesTHE fourth phase of theWorld Cup ticket saleskicked off this week and willrun until 7 April.
It is one of the lastchances for fans to makesure they do not miss outon witnessing the footballspectacular live.
Tickets will be allocated ona first-come-first-servedbasis, subject to availability.
Applications can be madeat www.fifa.com/2010 or atFNB branches.
A total of 1 206 865tickets have been requestedfor the World Cup from 192countries.
Jiyane Roadlibrary closedTHE Municipal Library inJiyane Road, Tongaat, isclosed until Monday, 15February.
The Municipalityapologises for anyinconvenience caused.
Library users returningbooks are asked to putthem in a box near security.
Fines accumulatedbecause of delays inprocessing the books will bewaived.
Matter of factA NUMBER of the pages inthe last edition of theeZasegagasini Metro werewrongly dated 29 January2009. They should haveread 29 January 2010. Theerror is regretted.
IN BRIEF
DERRICK DLAMINI
DEPUTY Mayor Logie Naidoohas dismissed claims that amultimillion rand bank loantaken out by the Municipalitymeant bad news, especially inthe wake of a recession.
He was responding to sug-gestions from CouncillorPatrick Pillay, the MinorityFront’s representative on theExecutive Committee (Exco),that a R500-million loan fromNedbank might “move theCity back into the red”.
According to a report pre-sented to Exco and lateragreed to by the full Council,the loan would help eThek-wini meet its capital expendi-ture commitments, as appro-ved in the medium-termbudget.
He said, “It’s puzzling thatsome people could even beginto question the logic behindthe decision to pursue thisloan amount.
“We constantly converge inour various capacities as pub-lic servants and in committees
and approve major dev-elopmental projects, and yetwhen we need capital to fulfilthese tasks, some peopledispute it. Our capital budgetwould be financed by thisloan. It’s for a good cause andwould take the City forward,”Naidoo said.
Also at Exo, Council SpeakerJames Nxumalo reiterated hiscall for councillors to workharder to preserve the legacythe Municipality had created.
“We’ve made significantstrides to meet the service
needs of our people, however,there’s still lots to do.
“We pride ourselves in theongoing infrastructural dev-elopments in various parts ofour city, including the newinternational airport andDube Tradeport at La Mercy,”said Nxumalo.
The two developments wereexpected to be complete intime for the World Cup.
The Airports Company ofSouth Africa said the newairport would be free of theoperational and logistic con-
straints associated with theold Durban InternationalAirport. The runway will be3 700m long to accommodatenew generation large aircraft,including the A380 Airbus,with space to expand to4 000m if needed.
The passenger terminal willhave greatly expanded spacefor shops and restaurants.
Facilities for police, military,VIP, general aviation and air-craft maintenance would beprovided.
Logie defends multimillion rand loan
DERRICK DLAMINI
REPORTS of service irreg-ularities and misconduct bysome bus drivers have comeunder scrutiny amid efforts bythe Municipality to improvethe bus service ahead of theWorld Cup.
Members of the Council’sExecutive Committee (Exco)this week raised concerns overallegations that some driverswere not issuing tickets topassengers.
Some drivers had alsoreportedly treated the elderlyand school children harshly.
Councillors serving on Excosaid driver courtesy must beimproved ahead of the WorldCup
A report tabled before Excoon the state of the DurbanTransport Service noted thatthe number of buses operat-ing was increasing steadily,but had yet to reach the fullnumber of 450.
There were 15 new Mynahbuses, the report said, andthese have been operatingsince 25 August.
About 40 Mynahs wererequired for the full service,but because of difficulties inprocuring additional buses,five standard buses had beenbranded in Mynah coloursand would be used on theMynah routes as a trial.
More Sukuma, disabled-friendly, buses were operat-ing. Two additional buseshave been in operation since10 September. A third is usedfor special hires and wouldlater be used on a regularroute, the report said.
City Manager Michael Sut-cliffe said a presentation on
the state of the Durban Trans-port Service had been made toKwaZulu-Natal MEC forTransport, Community Safetyand Liaison, Willies Mchunu.
Sutcliffe said the Munici-pality was looking at handingover the service to Tansnat,the contractors appointed totake over the fleet inSeptember.
He said some difficultieswere still being resolved, in-cluding a labour dispute, withunions saying the new con-tractor should employ all thestaff of the service’s formeroperator, Remant Alton. Thecase is due to be heard in June.
‘Reluctance’Sutcliffe said the Muni-
cipality had made provisionfor Tansnat to employ 80% offormer Remant Alton em-ployees but “because of thereluctance of sufficient ex-Remant Alton drivers to comeforward, Tansnat requestedthe City that the 80% require-ment be done away with.
“This matter is with theProvincial Task Team, and adecision is awaited,” he said.
Sutcliffe voiced his dis-approval over service irreg-ularities involving bus drivers,and vowed to work to addressthe matter. “It’s a seriousmatter that is compromising arather steadily growing sup-port from our passengers. It’snot a good reflection, but wewill attend to it quickly andengage with drivers andinspectors to resolve it,” saidSutcliffe.
A smart ticket system wouldbe introduced soon, he said.
GUGU MDLALOSE
WORK on the R200-millionWarwick Avenue inboundflyover is finally over.
This flyover links theWestern Freeway withJohannes Nkosi Street (AliceStreet) terminates just beforeJoseph Nduli (Russell Street),by-passing the highly con-gested Warwick/Old Dutchand Johannes Nkosi Streetand Market intersections onthe inbound carriageway.
It has been finished in timefor the World Cup and willsolve the traffic congestionwhich has plagued the areafor years.
Traffic passing through theWarwick Precinct was ahazard for pedestrians andposed a barrier to redevelop-ment and growth of the area.
The inbound viaduct will beofficially opened by MayorObed Mlaba for public use onMonday (15 February).
Taxi driver Khulekani Mji-
yakho said, “This has broughtus relief. This bridge will easetraffic flow and make ourwork easier. We are veryexcited.”
Dave Thomas, Manager:Roads Design (North), said,“The project design, admini-stration and supervision wasundertaken entirely by staff ofthe eThekwini Municipality.”
He thanked motorists andcommuters for their patienceduring construction.
ROMITA HANUMAN
AN APPEALS board has beenestablished to review objec-tions from eThekwini rate-payers over valuations madeon their properties.
MEC for Co-operative Gov-ernance and TraditionalAffairs Nomusa Dube said“very few nominations” werereceived for the board, delay-ing its appointment.
“Other members resigned
due to low remunerationwhile some municipalitiestook too long to comment onappointees,” said Dube at arecent media briefing.
Making sure the board wasdemographically representa-tive had also proved a chall-enge, said Dube.
“As we have to take ultimateresponsibility, we will grantcondonation to municipali-ties that have not compliedwith the timeframe for pro-
cessing appeals because theboards were not in exis-tence,” she said.
The MEC said she had con-fidence in the new boardsand “satisfied with theircompetencies”. Board chair-men were legally qualifiedand had experience in localgovernment, said Dube.
Krish Kumar, Deputy CityManager, Treasury, said, “Iam pleased the appealsboard has been established.
“We look forward to work-ing with the Province inassisting customers withtheir appeals.
“We are quite fortunate thatthe eThekwini appeals boardhas the following members:Matthew Francis, Thembe-lihle Ndlovu, Wade Spen-celey, Yuganathan Govenderand Sarika Kalpee and thatthey are all qualified and havethe experience to lead thisprocess,” says Kumar
Dube also discussed ratesin rural areas. She said guide-lines had been issued tomunicipalities for the valu-ation and rating of rural com-munal land.
Rural communities wouldbe granted relief from payingrates through exemptions.
“Municipalities are encour-aged as per the MunicipalRates Act to rate those usingland for profit,” said Dube.
ROMITA HANUMAN
METRO Police have warnedmotorists to display onlyofficial SABS number plates,whether personalised or not.
Metro Police SpokeswomanSenior Superintendent JoyceKhuzwayo said, “Original
licence plates must bedisplayed. We have noticedpeople driving around with nolicence plates or fakes.”
“We find it difficult to tracevehicles that have no plates.We use the plates for manythings like warrants and fines,tracing owners of a vehicle
when involved in an accidentand recovering stolen vehicles.
Khuzwayo said motoristswho failed to display originalplates would be fined. The finefor failing to clearly display anofficial number plate, with allnumbers clear, is R500.
Warning: official number plates only
Exco toldof rudebus drivers
Rates valuation appeals board announced
Flyover eases traffic woes
PROGRESS: The new inbound flyover at Warwick Avenue will be officially openedon Monday Picture: JESSIE SINGH