ANOTHER local government election is about to disturb our once peaceful backwater and the politicians appear to be making a meal of it.
It is the big political parties, not the ratepayers, that now decide (often in committee rooms, far away) what, when, where and how municipal policy should be enforced.
Hopefully, the appointment of our officials, their remuneration and duties will continue to adhere to accepted norms and remain free from political interference. It is they who will have to carry out these policies.
Of the three tiers of Government, local government is the one that most closely affects our daily lives – water, lights, rates, services, subsidised housing and potholes!
But, that does not mean the politicians will leave our voters (residents) in peace to make their “informed” choice on Wednesday, May 18th.
Our own Man Friday (and Tuesday), for instance, was offered a free jaunt to Cape Town this Tuesday - with all perks, transport and beverages included.
This generous offer, it seems, comes from the party that I suspect has failed consistently to get him out of his shack at Fairyland.
Maybe he never wanted a house anyway, but what is it that they can offer him in Cape Town when he is registered to vote in Paarl?
In spite of all my past efforts to persuade our very helpful and overloaded housing officials in Paarl to help him, he just not seems able to follow through with certain elementary paper work.
His deceased girl friend appears to have diddled him out of official ownership of his shack. This is the shack I helped him to acquire some years ago with several hundred rand I don’t want back.
Since then said shack has burnt down and been rebuilt at least twice, with the loss of all the other goodies that we and our neighbours could provide.
Whether he has ever voted for his newly acquired friends in the past is no concern of mine, but I have refused to pay him for a day’s work lost on a “civic duty”.
A free jaunt, nevertheless, remains a free jaunt and there does not seem to be any law restraining politicians from using a little gentle persuasion or OPM (other people’s money) to cultivate a favourable pre-election spirit in Cape Town.
Net result: He promised to be back by noon, but never arrived. No harm done, except to my “dawg” who missed her daily walkies. She will, hopefully, understand and extend tail-wagging forgiveness tomorrow.
Trouble is, he deserves better. He is a very charming, hard working and honest citizen, born in Paarl. He adores and cares for his son, as a single parent.
The apparently estranged mother now gets the child allowance I helped them obtain. He will not claim it; thinks the sangoma can help.
Democracy is a very fine ideal, as we are now hearing all over the Middle East, but sometimes does not cater for those least equipped to care for themselves. Instead of putting bread on their table, it can destroy stable economies.
In Africa, we have seen dangerous forces masquerading in its name when ethnic differences and tribal loyalties struggle for dominance. In its Western form, it depends on a well-informed electorate able to exercise wise choices to ensure that “better life for all”.
It was Churchill, I believe, who remarked that democracy was the best of all the very worst forms of Government. He also said capitalism’s weakness was its unequal distribution of wealth, whereas socialism excelled in its equal distribution of misery.
