Open Letter To Hellen Ziller Of The Democratic Alliance
This is an open letter to the DA (Democratic Alliance) and Hellen Ziller who leads the party. Why is this a public letter? Read on to find out why I have hereby withdrawn my support and my vote from the DA.
Dear Hellen Ziller
For the last 15 odd years I have been a supporter and a regular voter for the DA, previously the DP (Democratic Party). I have followed the philosophy that “if you don’t vote, then you are not entitled to complain”. Since I have been voting for quite some time now, allow me my forum to complain.
Until the last few years I really had no reason to call upon the DA for help. I was merely happy to cast my vote and let you get on with your prospective jobs, which I thought at the time were quite admirable. Needless to say that opinion has changed. The reasons outlined in this letter will make it quite clear as to why.
First, let me do the demographics! I am a white male, 41 years of age, retrenched for the last year and a half, unable to find a job because of the compounded effect the recession and Affirmative Action. I am quite capable and my only saving grace is to have a solid financial base or otherwise I would already have lost everything I have worked so hard for. As it is, I am going to be forced to start selling off things in order to survive if things continue as they are.
In the recent years I bought a house in an area which has proved to be a bit of a crime and traffic war zone. After numerous expensive phone calls to various cell phone numbers and different people within your organisation – including councillors, whose names I can no longer recall – help was not forth coming.
Some never even returned my messages and others simply passed the buck and lay the blame elsewhere instead of formulating a plan of action or even making a suggestion.
Due to the fact that the City Parks department essentially would not to do their job as I rejected their thinly veiled attempt at bribery, we in Orange Grove are blessed with the plague of the pretty Jacaranda tree. For many decades they have gone untrimmed. It is to the point that some streets no longer even have any natural sunlight except for a few hours midday. Still this is not a particularly great problem.
The fact that they shed all year around into people’s yards and swimming pools is still not even such a huge factor. What is however of particular importance and urgency, is that for the last few years they have been used by burglars to gain access to people’s properties.
Eventually, after several nocturnal visits to my property, I was burgled. I was (and still am) unemployed at the time. For me, this was quite a crisis. I cannot secure the door by which our criminal element exits my property as they have easy access to my property but no speedy exit. If I bar the exit too tightly from the inside, I can be assured of not waking up the morning following another visit.
I live on a really bad street corner when it comes to traffic on the road. My wall has been driven into so many times that I honestly cannot even count the times in the last 4 or 5 years. It will have to be rebuilt for the third time, only my insurance is no longer paying out fully for the damages. Millions upon millions of Rands have been wasted on this corner alone.
So, to cut a long – and not so pleasant – story short, this all amounts to the simple fact that I have been unable to get assistance from the DA when I most needed it.
To correct the possible misconception of what I have written in this letter, let me expand. I am not laying the blame for these problems at the DA’s desk. These problems stem from the current political powers that govern our country. What I am severely disappointed in is the lack of interest, willingness, or even concern on the DA’s part.
Essentially the gist of the “brush off” I have received from the DA is that it is all the ANC’s fault and the DA’s hands are tied. If that is indeed the case, then there is no valid reason to expect the DA to help the average person on the street and thus, the country as a whole.
The DA has achieved several great points for our democracy but only those that will safely garner support. How about tackling the curse of the Affirmative Action campaign? Surely after decade and a half, we the South African public, should be entitled to employment based on our skills and not our genetics?
So in conclusion I see no reason to vote for the DA in future. I am an admirer of Hellen Ziller and if there was a vote for president, she would have mine. As a party, however, the DA is sadly lacking and thus undeserving of a vote.
It is no secret to those that know me that I have wanted to move down the Cape for some time now. Perhaps the DA can assist me in seeking employment down in the fair Cape. Perhaps I shall consider placing a vote for Hellen Ziller and throwing my weight behind a party I used to believe in once more. Perhaps nothing will come from any of this but let it never be said that I kept quiet!
Till such time as I can see a party worthwhile my vote in the upcoming elections, I shall simply and deliberately abstain for the first time in our democracy.
I am one of those “white” people in South Africa who could quite easily have left sunny South Africa but didn’t. As the years roll by I am beginning to wonder if I was wrong about my decision.
If anyone from the DA wished to contact me they can do so on the email address I used to inform them of this letter. Alternatively, should no one read their email at the DA, contact me via the details in CV at http://www.cv.jorodrigues.com/
Sadly with the never-ending plague of spam I cannot directly post my email address online.
Jo Rodrigues
A follow up post is next… http://blog.jorodrigues.com/2010/09/road-works.html
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