NEWSPage 2 4 May 2007
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The eZasegagasini Metro isthe official eThekwiniMunicipality publicationthrough which ratepayersand residents are keptinformed about news,entertainment andperspectives in the greaterDurban region.It is also a forum forreaders’ views. It hits the streets fortnightlyon a Friday, with 450 000copies distributedthroughout the region.To contact us:eZasegagasini Metro, POBox 5588, Durban, 4000 Newsroom: 311 2290/81/84 Fax: 306 4603Communications: 311 [email protected] Info Centre0800 331 011 (toll-free)[email protected]
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Editor: Vasantha AngamuthuNews Editor: ThrushaNaidooSub-editor: MatthewHattinghWriters: SiyabongaMaphumulo, Ken Mchunu,Nomusa Makhutle, SohanaSingh, Alan Cooper, GabiKhumalo, Vernon Mchunu,Finola QuarsinghPhotographer: BongaMsimangTranslations: ThembaNyathikazi
THEMBA NYATHIKAZI
THE municipality’s LanguagePolicy was due to be signedinto force today.
Council documents willnow be available both inEnglish and isiZulu, and inother official languages onrequest.
Correspondence will bereplied to in the language ofthe letter received.
Cllr Zandile Gumede, Chair-man of the council’s Masa-khane, Grants-in-Aid, NonDiscrimination and Non Sex-ism committee, said: “Thispolicy promotes equal accessto municipal services andprogrammes by removingcommunication obstacles.”
According to the results ofthe last census, the languages
spoken in KwaZulu-Natal areisiZulu (80.9%), English(13.6%), isiXhosa (2.3%) andAfrikaans (1.5%).
Statistics for eThekwini arethought to be similar.
The policy, which wasadopted by the council inDecember last year, willpromote the equitable use ofisiZulu and English tofacilitate access togovernment services andinformation, said Gumede.
Mayor Obed Mlaba was dueto sign a scroll which was insupport of the adoption of thelanguage policy.
He said the municipalitywould ensure the equitableuse of working languages andwould redress pastimbalances.
Tariff talkswith streettraders
KEN MCHUNU
ETHEKWINI residents wereable to apply for identitydocuments and birth cer-tificates last month simply bygoing to their nearest schoolor community hall.
Over the past three weeks,Home Affairs and the city’sCommunity Participationdepartment sent staff in amobile station on a birthregistration campaign. Ittoured 33 public venuesacross eThekwini, includingWestville prison and theMagatsha Tribal Court.
Samuel Khwela, of HomeAffairs, said the campaign, bythe municipality and theprovincial government, wasaimed at helping people get
IDs and birth certificates, sothey would be able to accessgovernment grants.
He said: “Scores of people ineThekwini’s rural areas,townships and informalsettlements are unemployed.
“Most barely have appro-
priate documents that wouldenable them to apply forwelfare grants.”
Given this, the departmenthad resolved to reach out topeople. He said: “This was tomake life easy for thephysically challenged, who
could not bear the longqueues experienced at anyHome Affairs offices, as wellas those who could not afforda bus trip to town to reach us.
“We intended to make upfor the many repeated blun-ders that have earned ourdepartment a rather flawedreputation in recent years.”
There have been manycomplaints from the publicabout bribery and pref-erential treatment at HomeAffairs offices.
Incorrectly spelt names,wrong dates of birth, and theexclusion of certain names inIDs are also commonplace.
But Khwela said the depart-ment was cleaning up its act.“We want to show the com-munity that, despite all themistakes of the past, we arestill committed to servingthem. It is their needs we aremost concerned about.”
He said the response to thecampaign had been over-whelming and Home Affairswas now looking at taking itbeyond KwaZulu-Natal.
JAILED at Suncoast Casino as part of the Cancer Association’s Jail ’n’ Bailfundraising drive are songbird Jae, Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo, and singer Verd.Jailbirds, including celebrities, business personalities and local movers andshakers were recently locked up for an hour or the day as they tried to raisemoney for this worthy charity Picture: BONGA MSIMANG
DERRICK DLAMINI
ETHEKWINI’S Business Sup-port Unit is meeting streettraders to encourage them topay the tariffs they owe to thecity.
Tarrifs were increased inFebruary and many tradershave been refusing to pay,saying they could not affordthe hike and that they werenot properly consulted.
Recently, a meeting washeld at Isipingo, with asecond series of meetingsscheduled for 9 May inPinetown’s Civic Centre. Moremeetings will be held in otherareas later.
The meetings were in a bidto allay traders fears and toreach a common under-standing on the increase, saidthe unit’s Acting Head, PhilipSithole.
This emerged in a reportSithole presented to a citycouncil Economic Develop-ment and Planning com-mittee meeting, held at theCity Hall recently.
Some committee membershad earlier raised concernsabout the transparency of theconsultation process be-tween traders and the unit.
Sithole said the decision toincrease the tariffs had beenreached after research by theunit. This included visits toother major cities in thecountry, to learn what theywere charging.
The service costs incurredby the municipality were alsotaken into consideration insetting the tariff, Sithole said.
“When one reviews themunicipal costs involved inremoving debris (created bytraders), and providing busi-ness skills, training and safetyto traders, surely the increaseis far too little.
“The R420 for six months is
very low compared with othercities, which charge tradersdouble this amount. In fact,traders without shelters weresupposed to pay R250 amonth, and those with shel-ters to pay more.
“But because we under-stand they are strugglingfinancially, we opted to lettraders with shelters pay onlyR420 for a six month-periodand R35 a month for thosewithout shelters,” said Sithole.
However, Nomonde Ndlovuof the Simunye WomenTraders Association believesthe city’s failure to consultproperly has led traders to astate of uncertainty about theincrease.
Willing“With an organ such as the
eThekwini Informal Econ-omy Forum, we are willing todiscuss the matter at a highlevel and reach a com-promise. As much as we’d liketo co-operate with the city,we’re not convinced we wereproperly consulted. We hadhoped the resolutions takenduring the 2006 InformalTrade Conference would bedisseminated to all ourstructures so that we couldhave made an effectiveinput,” she said.
Sithole also expressedconcern about street traderswho fronted for bigger, estab-lished businesses.
“It’s a sensitive issue thatrequires a holistic approachand we’d like to appeal totraders to come forward andexpose those who continue toembark on these appallingacts.”
He said fronting and “otherpertinent matters” would bediscussed in talks with tradersrepresentatives.
Language policy
DERRICK DLAMINI
THE city’s Business SupportUnit recently hosted ameeting to present itsprogrammes to empower thesmall business sector.
At the meeting, bigbusinesses were urged topledge support for emergingentrepreneurs – a plea whichdid not go unheard.
KZN Oils promised todonate R250 000 towards thecity’s SMME fairs over a five-year period.
The company’s ChiefExecutive, Rajen Reddy, said:“As the product of SMMEdevelopment programmesourselves, it is appropriatefor KZN Oils to express oursupport.”
The company – which nowhas a turnover of aboutR700-million a year, and waslooking at expanding – wouldbe involved in mentoringand training programmes forSMMEs.
Also at the meeting, theunit’s Acting Head, PhilipSithole, outlined a number ofthe city’s developmentprogrammes that havehelped transform the smallbusiness sector.
Russell Curtis, of theDurban InvestmentPromotion Agency, saidlinking big and smallbusinesses would “bring infresh ideas, new marketaccess and technologies” togrow the SMME sector.
Bonke Dumisa, of theDurban Chamber ofCommerce and Industry,said: “It is our wish to seeSMMEs benefit from avariety of developmentprogrammes that the cityhas, especially in the fairs.
Prisoners of Conscience
Supportfor smallbusiness
Thabani Sikobe has his fingerprints taken for an ID.Helping him are officials Mandla Mngundu and LuckyMandwe Picture: SIYABONGA MAPHUMULO
ID bookhelpprovided
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