The Speaker- eThekwini Council                                                 17^th August 2009

Councillor James Nxumalo

City Hall

DURBAN

 

Dear Mr.Speaker,

 

QUESTION IN TERMS OF SECTION 17 OF THE RULES OF ORDER

 

In 2003 work on the much vaunted Revenue Management System for the City commenced. Since then any number of “go live” dates were set, none of which have been kept. The latest being sometime in 2010 but even this is not assured. To date the City has spent over R450 million on a system which at this stage has no guarantee that it will in fact operate successfully.

 

Against this background I wish to pose the following questions:

1.     When will the exact “go live” date be?

2.     Will the Revenue Management System be fully operational on this date?

3.     If not what exactly will be operational?

4.     If the system is not fully operational what will still have to be done to ensure full capacity?

5.     How much has the system cost to date?

6.     How much will the system have cost to ensure full operational ability?

7.     Why has it taken so long for the system to become operational?

 

Yours faithfully,

Councillor T. P. Collins

10 July 2009
The Speaker
eThekwini Municipality
Councillor James Nxumalo

NOTICE OF MOTION IN TERMS OF RULE OF ORDER 13

This council noting

That several hundred homeowners throughout the eThekwini municipal region of all races, backgrounds and political standing have lodged objections to their property valuations with the Provincial Valuation Appeals Board. That these residents are now obligated to pay the full rates to the municipality until their appeals are heard.

That the current economic climate has led to many, but especially the elderly, those who have been retrenched  and the unemployed of our city being unable to fully pay their rates, and have thereby had their essential services like electricity disconnected,

Hereby resolves:

That the executive committee investigates and reports back on:

1.    A moratorium being placed on the disconnection of essential services of any homeowner who has lodged an appeal with the Provincial Valuation Appeals Board, until such time that the appeal has been finalized;

2.    That the executive committee determine from the Appeals Board, a firm timeframe on when it will complete the appeal process;

3.     Investigate the constitutionality of eThekwini’s policy on disconnection of electricity services, when money is outstanding for rates.

Councillor Heinz De Boer
Proposer

Councillor TP Collins
Seconder

The Speaker – eThekwini Council
Councillor James Nxumalo
City Hall
DURBAN

12th July 2009

Dear Mr Speaker


QUESTION IN TERMS OF SECTION 17 OF THE RULES OF ORDER

Recently the fifaworldcup.durban.gov.za information portal was launched. The launch was accompanied by much media coverage and subsequent alarm expressed at the R6.5 million spent by the City for this website.

In defense of the expenditure, the 2010 ICT Programme Manager stated “The 2010 website will form part of other legacy projects. It will evolve into an information portal which will incorporate the current www.durban.gov.za website and the use of the functionalities   (Silverlight, Photosynth and Sharepoint) and content from the 2010 website.”

The "Policy on Free and Open Source Software Use for South African Government", approved by Cabinet in 2007 requires arms of Government to make use of Open Source and Open Standards compliant software where it exists as a capable alternative to expensive commercial proprietary software.

Additionally, at least, but not limited to paragraphs 2.5.21, 2.9.3 and 2.5.31 of the “Minimum Interoperability Standards (MIOS) for Information Systems in Government v4.1” signed by the Minister of Public Service and Administration brings into question the implementation of Microsoft Sharepoint based products as they are often not standards complaint.

It is contended that the existing www.durban.gov.za website already provides both a technically capable and policy compliant platform upon which to have developed the new Durban FIFA 2010 website and that the expenditure on the new site which intends to replace it is thus wasted.

Against this background I pose the following questions:

1.    Was there a tender process entered into for the preparation of the new website?
2.    From which budget allocation was the funding for the new website sourced?
3.    Was the cost of R6.5 million made known to the relevant council committees prior to the launch and the resultant media exposure?
4.    How much money has been invested in the existing www.durban.gov.za website and platform since it was deployed on the open source Plone system?
5.    Why did the City decide to develop the new website using expensive Microsoft technologies instead of sticking with the existing open source, standards compliant platform?

Yours faithfully,

Councillor Warwick Chapman