School speed humps delayed

A Durban municipal resolution that would have seen schools throughout Durban protected by speed humps and truck height restrictions being implemented in the Bluff region will not be acted on in 2008.

This comes after council speaker James Nxumalo blocked the tabling of more notices of motion that were to be discussed at the December 4 full council meeting.

Among them was a DA motion which called for an investigation into senior ANC councillor Visvin Reddy.

Reddy, chairperson of the council's infrastructure committee, has been accused of shirking his duties by not putting the speed humps and height restriction issues on his committee agenda despite council's resolution to act on the issues earlier in 2008.

Reddy has in turn accused the DA of using the issue to score cheap publicity.

In a circular that has raised the ire of opposition parties, Nxumalo said his office would not accept any more notices, and those already submitted would only be debated at the February 2009 council meeting.

Notices of motion are often the most contentious to be debated at council level, and lead to major council resolutions on health, safety and infrastructure being adopted.

In the latest spat, Bluff councillor Duncan du Bois has again taken Reddy to task, this time calling for an executive committee probe into Reddy's "failure in his capacity as chairperson".

A woman was killed in August in 2008 by a runaway truck, prompting Du Bois to table an original notice of motion calling for physical height restriction barriers to be built on Bluff Road.

The idea was originally supported by about 400 residents at a heated public meeting, before being supported by the ANC majority at full council level.

"The mood of the people is one of frustration and disillusionment. It is his job to place any reasonable requests on the agenda, but he is not fulfilling his function and I find that outrageous," Du Bois said.

"More than 400 people, including municipal Manager Mike Sutcliffe, were at the meeting where ideas were put forward, and here we are three months down the line, and it is not even on the infrastructure committee agenda," he said.

But according to Reddy things were done differently in 2008 with officials being consulted before items were put on the agenda.

"When an item appears I first discuss things with the officials concerned. The items will appear on the agenda at the right time but in the interim I will not bow to pressure," Reddy said.


Source: iol.co.za