ExCom Quotes:

I would like this opportunity to introduce you to the Executive Committee of the Marina Da Gama Association. This introduction lets them to speak for themselves by quotes taken from their newsletters, letters and communications with residents:

WHAT THEY GOT RIGHT:

This Association used to be a Mickey Mouse Association.

Peter Harrison – Chairman at June 2006 OGM.

(Shall we now call you the Mighty Mouse Association or are you becoming Uncle Scrooge?)

In the past, our AGM’s have been poorly attended, perhaps a reflection that the Association was irrelevant to residents’ needs.
Peter Harrison – Chairman: October 2006 Newsletter.

The objections have been made, and the objectors will not go away.
Peter Harrison – Chairman November 2006 Security Bulletin.

A BOLD STATEMENT

When Fred Daniells commented to Paul West, – Security Excom Member – that there are people in the Marina who could not afford a compulsory security scheme and would loose their homes, Paul’s answer was: So what? Then the new people who buy will have to belong and will be able to afford it.

Taking this statement into consideration, the following statements should be viewed with the utmost suspicion:

Basic human rights include the right to life and the right to hold property. Our security plan aims to protect our members’ rights in those respects.
ExCom: November 2006 – Security Bulletin No. 3

We believe that the members, who cannot afford the increased subscriptions, are catered for by the special arrangements we have put in place. We appeal to any such members to let us deal with their problem internally. There is no need to involve the council.

ExCom: September 2006 Security Bulletin.
(Do those so called special arrangements include us having to sell our
homes to be replaced by people who can afford your security? )

WHAT THEY REALLY WANT

And when I had meetings with the proposers (sic) of these changes to the constitution and I asked by they had seen the need to dispense with the financial safeguards outlined above, their reply was ‘We want to run this association professionally, and we do not want to be tied hand and foot and obliged to answer to the members at every turn. We want carte blanche to do as we see fit. That is the beginning and end of the matter.’
Objecting member quoting a Proposer of the scheme in a letter to Council dated 31 March 07

And when I explained that the opinion they had received from Adv Burger spelt out in words of one syllable that what they are proposing may well be challenged in the High Court as such changes could NOT have been in the contemplation of the framers of the original constitution, their reply was simply. ‘We are banking in the hope that no-one objects enough to go that expensive legal route, so we will take our chances on the general lack of interest amongst the residents of the Marina and if we win we win and if we don’t win so what, it has not been our own money that will have been wasted.‘

Objecting member quoting a Proposer of the scheme in a letter to Council dated 31 March 07

I don’t care about acting in terms of the Law. In my opinion, we should implement the scheme regardless of whether it is legal or not.

Mario Rosingana (Association Treasurer) to Anita Koetsier<