THE VIPER IN OUR MIDST
So, I infiltrated and took as sneak peak at the
A while ago we were entertained to the comedy of errors by council’s legal department in the People’s Post where we were given a description of how council’s lawyer, Herman van Zyl, zigzagged and flip-flopped in his legal opinion on this matter. We were also told how council had mishandled the minutes of the meeting and how our chairman was quite prepared to hail (and personally see to it that it gets accepted) these incorrect minutes, despite the fact that he admitted in a written statement that they did not reflect what actually happened. (At least our chairman is honest about his lack of integrity.)
Our esteemed councillor attended the meeting too, and, like a good lackey of the association, brought his office manager/secretary along to tell us that yes, she had made a mistake with the minutes but they were corrected at the next sub-council meeting. Council had made a resolution on the matter of the changed constitution and referred the matter back to the association for proper public participation with the help of council, but the resolution was in fact not really a resolution, but a recommendation. Council is not legally competent to tell ExCom what they can do with their constitution and ExCom can do as they wish, regardless of the lack of proper public participation. (I did find it amusing that even Council’s own officials admit council’s legendary lack of competence and with it’s layer’s flip-flopping about, this is not surprising.)
So ExCom decided to take the dishonourable route and have unilaterally changed the constitution. Sorry, no points for guessing that this is what they would do, as, given their dictatorial rule over the
But, they are doing it in a superbly sneaky way. They suspended the implementation of the security scheme and kept our levies at R170.00 a year. In contravention of what is now their constitution, they are also not implementing it as a monthly levy, but as a yearly subscription. Very clever - trying to give the masses the impression that there will be no monthly levy.
But don’t be fooled, the clause in the constitution is still there, lying like a viper in our midst, waiting for the next hair-brained scheme to give it a chance to strike.
If we do not fight this now, and fight it hard, we will be subjected to huge monthly levies in no time.
COUNCIL’S RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS
The law says that all homeowners associations’ constitutions have to be approved by council. There is no arguing about that. This association’s constitution has never been approved (or even adopted by the members at an AGM), which is why I am starting to wonder whether this association is a homeowners association after all. Our councillor said at the meeting that this association is just like any other ratepayers or civic association. He, as an ex-chairman of the association and a major decision-maker in this matter, must know what kind of an association this
So, either he does not know the difference between a home-owners’ association and a ratepayers’ association, or he knows something we do not.
Mr. Councillor can you please enlighten us, (that is to say if you are at all interested in the welfare of your voters in this area), whether we have to belong to this association at all? Is this the association which is referred to in our title deed or not?
If not, why does he not openly tell us that we do not have to belong? Why does he let this dictatorship continue? On the other hand, if it is a homeowners association, how can he insist that council has nothing to do with the constitution if the law clearly states different? Why does our councillor, instead of playing political games, not insist that this matter be looked at properly, in its entirety? As far as I can see, no binding decision can be made in terms of this constitution, partly because council has not done its job. How can our councillor not see that attempting to sweep this matter under the carpet is not going to solve the conflict? It is just going to rise like a phoenix every time a decision is made so, please, Mr. Councillor, get council to do its job and look into this matter in its entirety. Isn’t that what you were elected for, to be our representative on Council?
THE AGM DISSECTED
Some other interesting things occurred at the meeting:
1. The resolution to suspend the security scheme indefinitely was, bar one or two votes, accepted unanimously.
2. Despite the many, many objections and despite the fact that we will not have a security scheme, ExCom have implemented the changes to the constitution.
3. The members present still thought that there may be a chance that we could have a boom-gated village in the future. Do they not read the newspapers? This will mean that council will no longer look after our refuse collection, sewerage, electricity cables, streets, street lighting, waterways etc. We will have to pay for these services ourselves. What do they expect this all to cost? Believe me, R220.00 per month will not cover the expenses and you may be sure that council will not give us a reduction on our rates.
4. I noticed that the members do not elect the executive committee. They get nominated and seconded before the meeting and members are not even consulted on the matter at all.
5. In contravention of their own constitution, ExCom did not include financial statements in the notice of the AGM. When we eventually got a copy, less than a day before the meeting, they did not contain the un-audited financial statements for the current year nor did it give us a budget of expenditure for the coming year.
6. On being asked what they do with our money, we were told that it gets put in the bank as they cannot spend our money. What do they need subscriptions for then?
7. As it was, the subscriptions more than adequately covered their expenses, but they felt it had to be increased. Why?
8. Inspector Jan is now also an ExCom member. Will he still draw a salary despite the fact that ExCom members may not be paid?
9. ExCom spent R34 889.00 on the newsletter, printing, stationary and postages and no-one blinks an eye. Why should we pay R34 889.00 a year to read about Vrygrond, the Link and ExCom propaganda?
10. ExCom spent R8 699 on hall hire etc for the AGM and OGM last year. Maybe ExCom should look at hiring another hall?
11. A loan of R7 226 was granted by ExCom for security pods. No-one asked what a security pod is, and why is the loan was free of interest with no fixed terms of repayment.
12. The meeting was attended by about 200 people, including spouses etc. Out of a membership in excess of 1300, this meeting was certainly not representative of the community.
3 users commented in " A Viper in our Midst "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackInspector Jan did nothing for the marina standards as far I as I can see. This can only happen in SA where some clown does a lousy job yet is voted in by a minority thus moves up the food chain of power.
My feeling is that inspector Jan was looking for greener pastures as the heat was getting too much. Shame!!
Currently our esteemed councillor has not bothered to reply to any open letters addressed for urgent attention by residents.This attitude will come back to haunt him comes re-election time.
I am confused. Assuming the councillors had access to the relevant information, they must have felt that there was no proper public participation in regard to this application for them to have made this resolution. This resolution cannot be just be a recommendation as council has clear guidelines regarding public participation. From what I understand, Council received an application, felt that public participation was insufficient and rejected the application. Simple.
How can a council resolution therefore not be a resolution but a recommendation? What are these councillors doing? If they did not have the legal competency to deal with the matter, why did they waste our time for more than a year and a half. If I remember correctly, at last years’ AGM Qually brought another council employee to tell us that it was council’s duty to approve the constitution. Now he brings someone else to say different. Of course, he does not have the guts to say so himself, but he gets other people to do it for him.
Council has very clear guidelines regarding public participation in regard to applications made to them, regardless of what the application is about.
Qually should to his job and leave the political games. He is just causing this process to be prolonged, to the detriment of the entire community.
What a farce! Councillor Demetri Qually is the subcouncil chairperson. It is my opinion that this councillor has no backbone, loves the sound of his own voice and does nothing for residents within his own ward.
What has he done about the Prince George Drive crossing? On Monday 3 December 2007 there was another accident at this crossing where a young girl nearly lost her life on her way to school. How many people have to die before they do anything?
What exactly does this employee of the state do? Is he part of the gravy train!!!
In a recent local newspaper article, we are asked by the councillors for more input from the residents. Why then does he feel it’s beneath him to answer questions from residents and resolve or come up with logical solutions for the problems in the Marina and surrounding areas.
What an utter farce to say that residents should get involved. Why? You don’t listen to us in any case. In my opinion the chairperson of the subcouncil - Demetri Qually - cannot, or rather will not, answer public questions from Marina DaGama residents. I see he has not even responded to the criticisms raised on this webpage, but they feel we need to go to them with our questions requiring urgent answers and solutions. Why should we waste our time?
I feel that homeowners resisting the Marina Association’s bully tactics are sidelined by the councillor concerned. From what I hear, there were many objections raised with Council, but our Councillor seems to have done his level best to protect only ExCom.
In my opinion, this councillor only seems to be successful in obstructing open debate and problem solving.
Councillor Qually, what have you done for us?
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