Progress in restoring water to affected residents in Knysna
The municipality has confirmed that new water pumps have been successfully installed at the Charlesford pump station.
Testing is now underway to ensure the system is safe, stable and fully operational.
ALSO READ: Gift of the Givers stand by as Knysna's water woes contiue
Residents who do have access to running water are being urged to continue using it sparingly.
The municipality has also advised residents to boil water before drinking it or using it for cooking.
African National Congress (ANC) provincial spokesperson, Khalid Sayed, welcomed the progress, saying public resources and infrastructure should be protected, improved, and equitably shared.
"This marks a significant step forward in restoring water to communities that have been without this basic necessity for over a week."
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Daily Maverick
4 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
If BEE goes, how do we address racialised inequality?
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But, in a comment by Professor William Gumede that has been widely quoted, BEE has cost around R1-trillion and yet most black people have not benefited from it in any substantive way (this is likely to be hugely contested). BEE is intensely controversial. Not just because a small group of people have been made rich, but because of what it is: A deliberate attempt to empower one group of people at the expense of another group. No matter the moral legitimacy of such an aim, in any society, to take from one group to give to another leads to huge arguments. This is one of the reasons tax policy can be hugely controversial. The cost of scrapping As a starting point, it may be important to ask: if there is no BEE and no other measure of race-based redress, what would happen? The economy would probably grow a little more quickly than it is now. Companies could simply scrap all the measures they take to qualify for BEE points. This might make them, and their owners, richer. But there would be a huge cost. For example, some of the big banks insure the geysers of people they grant mortgages to (this is to protect the value of the property they are lending money against). As a BEE measure, they then use a long list of black-owned suppliers to repair those geysers if they break down. The big banks would probably find it much more efficient to use one big company to fix all these geysers. These suppliers, usually the first in their families to own a small business, would lose out dramatically. Most would probably have to close. The consequence of this is that all these people, and their extended families, who they support, would lose faith in the democratic project. This would be just one example of how inequality, both racialised inequality and general inequality, would be re-entrenched. That would lead to greater demands for political and economic change, and perhaps, more calls for some kind of radical, or even revolutionary change. 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Those profits would, in turn, help to fund a BIG that would make a real difference to the lives of millions of people. While there appears to be no public polling on this, it might be worth asking if the millions of people who receive the R370/month Social Relief of Distress Grant would prefer that money in their pockets to retaining the current model of BEE. Considering that these people clearly need more help than most of those who currently benefit from BEE, there may be a compelling moral argument in this direction. But that might be creating a false binary. And it would not satisfy the demand for race-based redress, although it would help to reduce inequality. The attacks on BEE will not stop. But the intensity of our inequality, as racialised as it still is, demands measures to address it. A window is now opening for a proper debate on what might be more effective. It's vital that we grab it. DM
IOL News
13 hours ago
- IOL News
ANCYL slams corruption in Polokwane municipality, calls for arrests over scandals
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IOL News
14 hours ago
- IOL News
New political donation limits raise concerns over increased private interests in the country's politics
Political analysts say the doubling of the limit and threshold for political donations will deepen secrecy in political funding and make it easier for private interests to have an influence on politics. Image: Leon Lestrade / Independent Newspapers The new limit and threshold for political donations, which means political parties can accept more money from donors, could see more influence exerted on government institutions and politicians. Political analysts said although money is needed in politics, the capture of government and politics could broaden and become further entrenched. This was after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation to double the threshold and annual donation limit in the Political Funding Act (PFA). The annual donation threshold to political parties by an individual donor has increased from R15 million to R30m. He has also allowed for donations to political parties below R200,000 to remain undisclosed, up from R100,000. These amounts were set in a government gazette dated August 6. Ramaphosa said he made these decisions in terms of the PFA and was also acting on a resolution adopted by the National Assembly on May 20. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said although money is necessary in politics, this means more capture of policy, law, political party and politicians, as well as government institutions. Ndlovu said this is because there is already secrecy and influence in the country's politics. 'The secrecy is already there. How many people know the funders of the ANC, DA, EFF, MKP etc. Do voters even care that some of these political parties are funded by the same families and corporations? Private interests are already influencing our politics. The Guptas' influence was too obvious but in most cases such influence is subtle,'' he said. Ndlovu added that it was obvious that private interests corrupted policymakers and lawmakers. 'In short, more money in politics means more policy capture, more law capture, more capturing of individual politicians, political parties and institutions of the state. People want to know who captured and infiltrated institutions of the criminal justice system. If we stretch our imagination, it becomes clear that money has been used to capture political parties,'' he said, adding that this is taking the country back to greater secrecy. 'Even scarier, the accountability of elected representatives is with private interests instead of the public and national interests.' Governance expert and political analyst Sandile Swana supported the sentiments, saying the rich determine who takes the office and increase their wealth. Swana said this was demonstrated by the sealed CR17 files. 'The president we have today was decided by the billionaires and multimillionaires of South Africa. It was decided by the big businesses and white business-class. It was not a decision of the majority because politics are decided by money, meaning that the concentration of wealth determines who will run the country and how it should be governed,'' he said, adding that those taking the office are there to preserve and increase the wealth of the rich. Lobby group My Vote Counts (MVC) said it is awaiting judgment in its case that was heard in the Western Cape in February this year, in which it challenged various aspects of the Act. These included the irrationality of the two limits and the power of the president to have the final say in setting the limits. The group wants political parties and independents to disclose all private donations, regardless of the amount. It also wants both 'natural and juristic persons' to be obliged to disclose donations they have made in excess of the annual threshold, and the annual upper donation limit to be significantly lowered. MVC said while awaiting judgment, it is considering other legal options to address Ramaphosa's action. 'We will also be writing to the President to request that he release the reasons and full record of factors that were considered as he applied his mind to this matter,'' said Joel Bregman, MVC project lead on money in politics. Bregman warned that this will deepen secrecy in political funding and make it easier for private interests to influence 'our' politics and for corruption to occur. The group said R200,000 is an enormous sum of most South Africans and donations of such amounts should be made public knowledge to facilitate scrutiny of parties' relationships with donors and ensure that donors are not receiving anything in return.
