Marina Da Gama is situated in the false bay area, Muizenberg, Cape Town. With luxury waters edge villas, and waterways its a suburb without a ward councillor. Self catering accommodation, bed breakfast establishments are becoming increasingly at risk!

The councillor did not bother to reply to this open letter, so my question still remains un-answered - is he economically beneficial to us, the rate-payers.

Dear Councillor Qually The following post will be placed on my website, onlyinsa.com by next week Friday. As our local Councillor I however would like to give you the opportunity to comment before it gets posted.What do you do when you feel your local Councillor has sold you out?
In the past year and a half, Marina Da Gama has been in dire conflict. It all started when a group of residents felt that crime was escalating and they wanted to turn the Marina into a “boom-gated village“.Council was not going to grant permission for any road-closures, so, the community decided that they would take matters into their own hands and try to implement a scheme whereby guards would be placed at the entrances to the Marina. Now, all this is very well, but it costs money, and the enterprising Executive Committee of the Marina Da Gama Association saw an opportunity to make a nice little profit out of our common need to feel safe in our homes. In a hyped up meeting we were entertained by a two-and-a-half-hour sales pitch in which we were told that, if we did not change the constitution to give Excom additional powers, we would be raped, robbed and murdered. We were shown pictures of ladies getting mugged on our streets (apparently a re-enactment), battle scenes and other gruesome scenarios.So, brainwashed and scared out of their wits, the meeting voted to implement the security scheme.

What Excom did not tell us, is that they have now bought themselves a nice little nest-egg with a built in insurance policy. The grand total of just under R3 000 000.00 (yes, that is R3 million for those who got tired of counting the zeros) was proposed to implement the scheme. Excom wanted R60 000.00 per month for administration. They earmarked one of their own for a cushy little half-day job at R20 000.00 per month, and to make things even easier for her, the would give her an assistant at R10 000.00 per month. What was going to happen to the other R30 000.00 is anyone’s guess.

In addition, should they mess up, the members would have to pay for their foul-ups. You see, the 2004 constitution limited our liability to our yearly levy, but the proposed changes made no such provision and we could all be held liable for their mistakes. This is a very likely scenario, given the fact that an Excom Member said that he does not care what the law said and that they should implement the scheme without the proper permission. Should anybody should sue the Association, at least it’s not their own money that would have been wasted.

But some of us were not that easily fooled, and so, the Battle of the Marina started. Our chairman was right there, telling people that a little bit of peer pressure on our neighbours would be welcomed so neighbour stopped speaking to neighbour. Objectors were vilified and branded, amongst others, “ill-informed”, “old bats” and the latest - wait for it - “headless chickens”. Even the recent murder of a neighbour in the Marina was linked to the security scheme.

Two parties formed. There were the Excom supporters, lead by the Peter Harrison. Then there are the Objectors, (now fondly known as the Headless Chicken Parade), publicly lead by Anita.Now, Anita is by no means ill-informed. Nor is she an old bat, but she does seem to be prepared to run around like a headless chicken to protect us and our rights. She and her merry band of headless chickens ran through the corridors of many a government and other building, on their way to gathering information. They searched the archives of Council, Province, the Deeds Office, Anglo American and even went to the archives of the High Court. They spoke to whomever they could to find out about the history of the Marina. The irony is that ultimately, she what she needed from our own Chairman. He gave her a copy of an Association newsletter which clearly says that this constitution they are so proud of, has never been adopted by an AGM, which means that it is not legitimate.

So, Anita and the Headless Chickens sent this information to Council and managed to do what every-one thought would be impossible. They managed beat the bullies by persuading Council to effectively tell the Association that their meeting was not properly conducted and that proper public participation had not been conducted.

And that is where our illustrious Councillor stepped in and, in my opinion, sold us all out. It seems as if he is prepared sit back and just take all the insults the Association has thrown his way. His own sub-council’s decisions are made a complete mockery of but our Councillor is deafening in his silence. Seemingly quite prepared to sit back and let the Association ride roughshod over everyone.

Now, Mr. Councillor, could you please tell us, are the decisions taken by YOUR sub-council binding? Are you aware that an entire community is about to be fleeced, or do you just simply not care? Why did you call a meeting a “good example of transparency and open debate with a clear, democratic outcome” when members with legitimate questions and objections were told to “shut up and sit down”? Why did you not stand up and say something when the Chairman told people to put peer-pressure on one another, or when people’s lives were placed at risk when a particularly provocative newsletter was sent out by Excom? What are you there for, Mr. Councillor?We realise that the Association was your springboard into local politics here, but really, Mr. Councillor, this whole community under treat. You do have the means to protect us, but maybe you are just to busy to be “seen to be unbiased?” For goodness sake, DO SOMETHING!!!