The Midlands HeraldPage 2 — December 2008

41 Bell Street, HowickTel 033-330 8116 • 330 5546

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Community leaders

endorse Lauren de Scally

“Lauren de Scally is a team player and a

determined, energetic and highly capable

businesswoman. She will add considerable value

to our town of Howick. I believe that the grit and

determination she has shown as a Comrades

athlete and mother of two will equip her for the

challenging task of being our councillor. I

therefore have no hesitation in endorsing her as

our candidate.” - Dr Mark Stead: Local

General Practitioner

“Howick needs a strong team to keep local

government clean and accountable. The DA

councillors in uMngeni have performed

splendidly in this role, and I have no doubt

that Lauren de Scally will add considerably to

the strength of this team.”

- John Tungay Hon. Life Vice President:

Umngeni Chamber of Commerce and

Industry; Vice-President KZN Chamber of

Business.

Wednesday, 10 December

Keep your

ward DA!“When Lauren de Scally commits to any

undertaking, she puts her heart and soul into

making it a success. I believe she will make

a formidable councillor.”

- Dr Pete Johnston: Local Veterinarian

“Lauren de Scally is the kind of councillor

Howick needs: determined, committed and

courageous. She has my 100% support.”

- Dr Bronwen Schoenfeld: Local Plastic

Surgeon

WARD 2

BY-ELECTION

uMngeni Municipality’s provision of

pound facilities for animals —

stipulated in the KZN Pounds Act of 2006

— is in dire need of investigation.

In a curious move, in May 2008 the tender

to operate a pound on behalf of uMngeni

was awarded to a cattle trader named Richard

Ndlovu — for an annual payment of

R625 000.

Yet the Mpophomeni Cattle Traders

Association has stated that it itself will not

deal with Mr Ndlovu.

The Pounds Act of 2006 sets out specific

regulations in order to assure the welfare of

the animals in its care.

However, according to Cllr Pam

Passmoor, these regulations are being flouted

on a daily basis.

Municipality’s

dubious

animal pound“Never mind the fact that there is

something decidedly dubious about the

granting of this tender to a cattle trader who

the community is refusing to deal with,” she

said to The Herald, “there is only one

paddock and Ndlovu’s own cattle are kept

with the impounded animals.”

She also claimed that the animals’ daily

needs are not being attended to, as they have

no shelter and no on-site water supply.

In her opinion, the business side of this

arrangement also needs further investigation

as the previous impounding arrangements

resulted in no cost to the municipality,

whereas this service agreement is costing

the ratepayer more than R600 000 a year.

In terms of the KZN Pounds Act of 2006,

a municipality must provide animal pound

facilities, either through a service provider

or by operating its own pound.

In previous years, uMngeni used Buster

Matteson’s organization, Cow Catchers CC,

which serves other municipalities in

KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

In contrast to the present arrangement,

Cow Catchers’ service generated an income

of R16 882 in 2007 and cost the municipality

nothing.

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At the last sitting of council the format of

the annual performance assessments of the

highly-paid municipal management was

changed to include a committee comprising

the mayor of uMngeni together with the

mayor and the municipal manager of

Mpofana.

Whilst municipal manager Dumisani

Vilakazi was keen to have the municipal

manager and mayor of Mpofana as members

of his review team, the DA caucus favoured

the oversight role of a “more functional

municipality” and one known to be not so

“cosy” with the uMngeni management —

namely the municipal manager of Msunduzi

Rob Haswell.

Out-voted by the ANC caucus, the DA

caucus thereupon requested that a further

item be added to the resolution, precluding

uMngeni from sitting on Mpofana’s Review

Committee, to avoid the possibility evolving

of a reciprocal “I-scratch-your-back-you-

scratch-mine” arrangement. This too was

out-voted. Reflecting on Mr Vilakazi’s recent

vehicle accident, when he was arrested he

used his right to make one telephone call —

to ‘phone the municipal manager of Mpofana

to come to his assistance!

uMngeni and Mpofana

may evaluate each other

On going to print, Dr Ian Player joined other prominent Howick

personalities in endorsing Lauren de Scally as the candidate of

choice in the Howick Ward 2 by-election.

ELECTION UPDATE:

Read all

about it

The

Midlands Herald