LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Bring back site value rating to revive cities

Kudos to Helen Zille for reminding those of us who no longer visit the Johannesburg CBD about what is happening to all too many parts of it.

Her promise that the DA will fix its problems by enforcing the law would be greatly bolstered by a commitment to strive for the reintroduction of site value rating (SVR), which the ANC abolished with the passage of the Municipal Rates and Property Act of 2004 (MPRA).

As she says, many owners, desperate at the extent of inner-city neglect and crime, have abandoned their properties with resultant takeovers by syndicates who have crammed the buildings with rural folk and, often illegal, immigrants.

While the exodus began long before the JSE moved to Sandton in 2000, it was arguably greatly worsened by the MPRA, which obliged all cities to levy rates on buildings as well as land, thus incentivising land speculation and discouraging new buildings and improvements.

So, in addition to crime and grime, owners of the hijacked buildings after 2004 would have been further discouraged from the spending necessary to adjust properly to the exit of iconic JSE-listed companies and thousands of small businesses and professional tenants.

Regardless, however, of who wins in Joburg in November, the city not only needs a change to SVR for the inner city but also for the leafy suburbs now blighted by thousands of vacant stands, in open view and hidden by hoardings. So, if we want to use our major resource, land, efficiently, let’s rate it and not the buildings, whose rates on them are disincentivising. Just by the way, of course, if rolled out nationwide, this would not only boost GDP but also facilitate a coherent move away from the detritus of spatial apartheid.

Stephen Meintjes

Linden

Justice delayed keeps corruption cases in limbo

The article, “Ex-Durban mayor Gumede, on a R320m fraud charge, just joined MK" (July 15), refers.

If the court system wasn’t such a joke, Zandile Gumede would have been tried and we would have a resolution on her guilt and any punishment that should be meted out would have been.

Instead, you remain on suspension indefinitely, your future hangs in the balance, and of course you are fair game for opposition parties. Jacob Zuma uses the same logic. He has never been found guilty in any court of law and his ignorant followers agree.

Of course, though, it suits the ANC to have a broken legal system; you look like you’re rooting out corruption, but no-one goes to jail. Schabir Shaik must have quite the Wednesday golf school with all these suspended government officials looking to keep busy while their cases pend into the next millennium.

Darryl Williams

Via Business Day online

Workers deserve answers over UIF investment losses

The article, “A tale of two boards that tore the PIC apart” (July 16), refers.

For years I have been writing to the department of employment & labour and the PIC about the reckless investments made for and on behalf of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

These investments have literally lost billions of rand of workers’ money. The money held in the PIC sent from the UIF does not belong to the government; it belongs to the workers of South Africa. For all these years (almost 12 years) I have tried desperately to stop the reckless behaviour evidenced by the department and the PIC. Both these departments keep blaming the other when push comes to shove.

Even now, the labour ministry has plans to use some of that investment money for the so-called job creation schemes the department is trying to put together. These schemes seem to be another way of being able to allow people to dip their fingers into the proverbial trough. Hopefully the suspension of the PIC CEO will also lead to a proper investigation into who is authorising these huge amounts of money being spent annually. The problem is that when some politicians and senior staff see loads of money tucked away in the PIC, someone always cooks up a scheme.

It is good once again to congratulate Cosatu, who at last has come forward to say, “We would not want to return to the dark days of state capture where such serious matters would have been swept under the carpet.”

Michael Bagraim

DA spokesperson on labour

PIC saga highlights need for genuine accountability

The article, “A tale of two boards that tore the PIC apart” (July 16), refers.

The developments at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) demonstrate that regulators are increasingly unwilling to tolerate governance failures and information being withheld from boards.

This should serve as a reminder that findings by supervisory authorities must be followed by transparency, accountability and consequence management.

Governance without accountability ultimately undermines confidence in our financial institutions and places public and pension capital at risk.

Brian Mkhabela

Via Business Day online