Pietermartizburg

Andrew Layman:  PCB CEO

The Carte Blanche programme on Pietermaritzburg paraded all our dirty laundry to the whole country.   Frankly, I don’t think it did justice to the issue.  For my part, a fairly lengthy interview was reduced to about three sentences.  Perhaps this was because I was not predictably critical, but offered some positive comments on the work being done by the administration team.   It seemed to me that the programme was part of an exposé of municipal failure and, for this reason, focused on a lot of negative aspects.    It must have been quite soul-destroying for the people at City Hall who have worked very hard to turn the city round.   I believe they have done a great deal, even if they have not accomplished the task completely yet.    It is ironic to me that their efforts seem to have made the administration less popular over time.    Whether this is because people expected overnight change, or because they will always complain about local government, is difficult to say.   Perhaps the   rigorous way in which credit control has been approached is a reason.  Perhaps, too, some innocent people have been caught in the net during the campaign against electricity and water thieves.   

I have been criticised in certain quarters because it was expected that the Chamber should not give support to the Mayor, the Administrator and their officials.    Years ago, when I joined the Chamber, our members expected us to criticise the Municipality.  Between 1994 and 2000, when the city’s economy was just about moribund, and the TLC, as it was then, didn’t seem to care, criticism was justified.    We made the mistake, however, of using the public media to throw our stones.    Chamber members applauded this approach as they felt that the “Chamber was doing something” at last, but it was a strategy that didn’t work.    Not only were we confronted by deaf ears, but we earned an unwanted reputation of being too closely aligned with the political opposition.   It began to make sense that we needed to be heard, not by public readers, but by the leaders of the city.  Thus, we consciously decided that we would publically support the Municipality when it was warranted, and limit   our criticism to private engagement, in the main.   

Thus, people who have the impression that the Chamber is blind in its support of the Municipality are wrong.   In regular engagements with the Mayor, the Administrator and senior officials, we have been quick to point out the areas in which we have concerns and we have pursued these very often to the point of satisfaction.     If the Chamber, as the voice of business in the city, is to have credibility and the ear of the city’s leaders, we must prove our trustworthiness.    Trust is the basis for any constructive relationship.   Thus, we are honest in our advocacy, and expect honesty in return.  So far, since the Administration began, we have not been disappointed, even though there are things that we have not been able to change.  We should not expect that we should be able to change everything.  We represent a business and economic view and in relation to certain matters, these are not the views that need to count.    Our industries would like much cheaper electricity, but this cannot be achieved without considering the city’s budget and its wider obligations.   We would all like to payer less rates, but these are based on the market value of our properties.  In terms of the law, this is not subject to manipulation.    There were inexplicable anomalies in the valuation process which should not have occurred, but these aside (I don’t mean to trivialise their importance or the frustration and annoyance they have caused to those property-owners who are victims), we must accept that we cannot pay rates on the basis of a lower property value than would be realised in a sale.   This is the law as it stands at present.    Indeed, by comparison with many municipalities, ours, even during its bad times, introduced very reasonable increases in the rate randage.  Some municipalities fleeced their property-owners.      Here, we were penalised by the lengthy time span from one valuation to the next when the property market boomed and prices rose dramatically.     

Ultimately, the control of the city is a matter of politics.   Soon enough, the Administrator and his team will move on, leaving behind a city in a far better state than it was when they arrived.   Then it will be up to the electorate and whichever political party is elected to control the local government.     This will be decided next year.   It will be the most important election in the city’s history, perhaps.   

Leave a Comment