IT IS tough being in the limelight. Ask Cooperative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka.
When his duplicity relating to unpaid municipal bills was exposed, instead of acknowledging his mistake, his spokesperson said the minister "is surprised that he is treated differently".
The answer to his surprise is simple - because you are who you are. And if you cannot handle the heat that emanates from your public profile, then get out of the proverbial kitchen!
The irony is that Shiceka is indeed being treated differently, but it is to his benefit.
Precisely because he is a minister, he has been afforded the opportunity to ask for an investigation and declare that "he is prepared to pay as soon as the municipality has explained why the bill is so huge while the house is not occupied".
Many Johannesburg residents have had their electricity and water supply cut off unceremoniously without explanation.
You'd think Shiceka would be grateful that his privileged position has protected him from what ordinary citizens have had to endure - inflated bills, lack of information, arrogance, shoddy responses by officials and, worst of all, no water and electricity.
And because they cannot afford to do without these resources and have wasted precious time camping outside municipal offices and holding on while a recorded message tells them "your call is important to us .", most residents have ended up paying, anyway, without getting a satisfactory answer.
But the minister's lights have stayed on while he awaits an investigation. At least he is right that he is being treated differently.
I defend the minister's right to ask questions about his account. His enquiry about why "they demanded a lot of money for water and electricity even when I stayed only once or twice in that house." is not, in itself, incorrect.
But to have made no payments whatsoever since 2009 is just ridiculous and unbecoming of a minister.
As someone who is spearheading a campaign for municipalities to recover the R50billion owed in unpaid rates and services, he should be leading by example.
It would also be interesting to find out what Shiceka regards as "a lot of money".
Yes R34625 is a lot of money, but if his house is in Midrand and he has not been paying the concomitant rates and taxes for two years, then this amount translates to R721 a month, which even if he is not living in that house, is quite feasible.
As the minister in charge of local government he should know that, as residents, we don't just get billed for water and electricity, there are extra charges and services that make up the municipal bill.
Wouldn't life be grand if we did not have to pay our mortgages simply because we are not living in the houses we bought or if we were exempt from honouring our car repayments because we are not driving those cars?
The minister must not ride on the misguided support he has received from disgruntled residents.
They are merely supporting him because they are frustrated with Joburg Metro and wish they could withhold their payments. They are not supporting him because he is right.
I would like to remind the minister of his response in a television debate I hosted on dysfunctional municipalities.
Fed up with incompetence and a lack of service delivery, a community in North West decided to withhold payments of municipal rates and instead put the money in a trust.
They did not just withhold payment as the minister has done but, instead, appointed their own representatives, who used this money to improve services and do the work that the local authorities were failing to do.
The minister's response to this was an unequivocal "it is illegal to withhold payment".
Shiceka's point was that regardless of the lack of service delivery and the incompetence of the local authorities, the residents had no right to decide to pay or not to pay.
Yet here he is today, withholding payment because he has given himself that right. I too am sick to death of the Joburg Metro's legendary billing chaos and the pathetic responses to it.
But, Shiceka cannot choose which laws to obey and which to break.
Shiceka must lead by good example
IT IS tough being in the limelight. Ask Cooperative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka.
When his duplicity relating to unpaid municipal bills was exposed, instead of acknowledging his mistake, his spokesperson said the minister "is surprised that he is treated differently".
The answer to his surprise is simple - because you are who you are. And if you cannot handle the heat that emanates from your public profile, then get out of the proverbial kitchen!
The irony is that Shiceka is indeed being treated differently, but it is to his benefit.
Precisely because he is a minister, he has been afforded the opportunity to ask for an investigation and declare that "he is prepared to pay as soon as the municipality has explained why the bill is so huge while the house is not occupied".
Many Johannesburg residents have had their electricity and water supply cut off unceremoniously without explanation.
You'd think Shiceka would be grateful that his privileged position has protected him from what ordinary citizens have had to endure - inflated bills, lack of information, arrogance, shoddy responses by officials and, worst of all, no water and electricity.
And because they cannot afford to do without these resources and have wasted precious time camping outside municipal offices and holding on while a recorded message tells them "your call is important to us .", most residents have ended up paying, anyway, without getting a satisfactory answer.
But the minister's lights have stayed on while he awaits an investigation. At least he is right that he is being treated differently.
I defend the minister's right to ask questions about his account. His enquiry about why "they demanded a lot of money for water and electricity even when I stayed only once or twice in that house." is not, in itself, incorrect.
But to have made no payments whatsoever since 2009 is just ridiculous and unbecoming of a minister.
As someone who is spearheading a campaign for municipalities to recover the R50billion owed in unpaid rates and services, he should be leading by example.
It would also be interesting to find out what Shiceka regards as "a lot of money".
Yes R34625 is a lot of money, but if his house is in Midrand and he has not been paying the concomitant rates and taxes for two years, then this amount translates to R721 a month, which even if he is not living in that house, is quite feasible.
As the minister in charge of local government he should know that, as residents, we don't just get billed for water and electricity, there are extra charges and services that make up the municipal bill.
Wouldn't life be grand if we did not have to pay our mortgages simply because we are not living in the houses we bought or if we were exempt from honouring our car repayments because we are not driving those cars?
The minister must not ride on the misguided support he has received from disgruntled residents.
They are merely supporting him because they are frustrated with Joburg Metro and wish they could withhold their payments. They are not supporting him because he is right.
I would like to remind the minister of his response in a television debate I hosted on dysfunctional municipalities.
Fed up with incompetence and a lack of service delivery, a community in North West decided to withhold payments of municipal rates and instead put the money in a trust.
They did not just withhold payment as the minister has done but, instead, appointed their own representatives, who used this money to improve services and do the work that the local authorities were failing to do.
The minister's response to this was an unequivocal "it is illegal to withhold payment".
Shiceka's point was that regardless of the lack of service delivery and the incompetence of the local authorities, the residents had no right to decide to pay or not to pay.
Yet here he is today, withholding payment because he has given himself that right. I too am sick to death of the Joburg Metro's legendary billing chaos and the pathetic responses to it.
But, Shiceka cannot choose which laws to obey and which to break.