On the 7th August, Mr. Nico Nel posted that Linbro Park had a much better organized debate than Buccleuch. Let me start off by mentioning that the post was less economic with the truth. There was no residents debate and neither was the gathering orderly. Let me also state upfront that Mr. Nel is a DA campaigner and used this debate to further his agenda. Mr. AK Tshabalala was the only resident from Linbropark in the debate. So, there were no residents in the so-called debate, which was actually an ANC bashing event with the capable assistance of the Chairperson, Mr. Nel. About thirty people attended the meeting, 20 from the DA, 5 from Alex and another five from the ANC. As the ANC, we took a decision not to bus in people for we wanted to interact with residents of the suburb. On the contrary, the DA, bussed in people from Klipfontein and brought in MPs, MPLs as well as Councillors. The DAs action was understandable. They have an incapable candidate, whose only claim to fame is that he has a degree. He made this claim no less than three times in his opening address and I even laughed at the emphasis. They had to make this reinforcements after their candidate was exposed to be clueless at the Buccleuch debate. On the other hand, the ANC took a decision to reduce the number of our members, because we had confidence in the quality of the candidate we fielded and we wanted to listen as well as interact with residents. For us, it was important for residents to interact with the candidate and know who they were voting. Let me state that we were not invited to the debate because Mr. Nel claimed that he could not locate our candidate and only got invited after some residents on this medium raised an objection. Is Mr. Nel for real? Who doesnt know where to contact the ANC? Apart from the website, Mr. Nel has contact details of every Councillor in Joburg and could have easily reached our candidate. Having arrived at the debate, despite Mr. Nels wishes, we were made to feel unwelcome. The meeting lasted for 90 minutes and Mr. Nel must have spoken for at least 40 minutes. He first patronized us with how he has black friends to telling us about his family. Issues which were totally irrelevant to the debate. He then proceeded to debate on behalf of the DA and protecting Mr. Nkomo when he clearly said he had no answers to issues raised by the audience. Interesting that Mr. Nel fails to state that I walked out of the supposed debate in protest to his bias. His version of events is also very economic of the truth. It does not go anywhere near presenting what transpired in the debate. Mr. Nkomo told us about his degree, whilst the ANCs Mr. Sethatu spoke of service delivery challenges in the ward and emphasized the need for racial harmony. The DAs 20+ members in the crowd heckled like they did in Buccleuch. The heckling was a result of the DA being exposed for not having a plan for this ward. Mr. Nel hijacked what was supposed to be a residents meeting and turned it into his campaign for a DA candidate who clearly fails to convince residents. The very said candidate refused a debate with the ANC candidate on Alexfm scheduled for last Thursday because he had knew he would not have the backing of from MPs and Mr. Nel. We challenge Mr. Nkomo to a debate on Alexfm on any day, for we are confident that ours is a superior candidate with better credentials and a sound plan for the ward. Whilst Mr. Nkomos only claim to fame is his degree in Public Management, we have presented a candidate who is a community activist and has a history of championing community interests. BRACE members can attest and confirm this assertion. Mr. Nel uses the residents association to pursue his own political interest and peddle lies. There was no debate in Linbropark, hence I walked out. It was a forum where like minded people ganged up against the ANC candidate. It is people like Mr. Nel who will compromise the independence of resident association and compromise their ability to raise genuine community issues. People like him should be isolated for they compromise the ability and collective strength of residents to engage with local authorities. This can only be bad for service delivery as well as the interests of residents in general. The importance of civil society cannot be over emphasized and those who work to weaken it, like Mr. Nel, are enemies of the people. Residents must reject people like him and elect capable individuals driven by a real will to serve. The community of Linbropark need to speak up and not allow political opportunists such as Mr. Nel, who do not have the courage to show their true political colours publicly, to exploit their name. Hiding behind the banner of a residents association is very convinient for pursuing selfish pesonal political agendas. And for the record, I am from Buccleuch, not Alex. Mr. Nels post can be summarized in a few words, a big fat lie!!!
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:59:04 +0000
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