Dear Editor,
Well! Well! The latest revelation in the parking meter saga – that one of the key players in the entire unholy process is an ex-convict from the United States – is just about the icing on the cake of a profane situation.
What due diligence does City Hall perform before jumping head first into a situation? What background checks of contractors do they undertake? What is the purpose of the Investigations Unit of their City Police Department? Can any Tom, Dick or Harry get a contact with the City without proper character references?
But then again, one should not be too surprised when the signatory on the other side was also charged with forgery and placed before the courts and may have suffered the same fate as the parking meter contractor had his friends at City Hall not begged for the charges to be dropped. As they say ‘Birds of a feather flock together’.
But this brings me to the point of the urgent need for all of the contracts that the Council has entered into for the last two years to be inspected and assessed for transgressions and improprieties, as it is logical to assume that if this first one that is sampled is so problematic, then the others may also not be free of complications.
For far less than this, Commissions of Enquiry have been set up, why not for this one? If the powers that be are hearing the concerns of civil society and if they are interested in accountability and transparency, then they would send the Town Clerk on his leave, for which he has a lot accumulated and have the entire parking meter fiddle thoroughly investigated, dealt with and put to bed.
As a ‘slave’ according to Mr Cush, I would like to know if a contract was signed by a convict is a valid one, particularly if the other party was unaware that he was an offender.
Sincerely,
Mateo Phelephe
