WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-02-28 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[Mbeki is a hypocritical bastard. Jan]
Controversy rages over the multi-million-rand wall being erected to protect the Pretoria homes of top government officials, including President Thabo Mbeki, after more than 65 applications by residents of the crime-racked city for permission to erect booms to protect their communities have been turned down.
Amid the uproar this week over the cost of the wall, it emerged that the beleaguered residents of Arcadia, across the road from the high-security Bryntirion estate where the political elite live, had their application to erect security booms at access points to their suburb denied two years ago.
They have been forced to take other security measures, including coughing up for security guards to patrol their area.
‘The estate has its own police station. The crime rate is said to be very low’
The latest upgrades to Bryntirion come less than two years after the Tshwane metro council approved the closure of six roads around it to improve security and access control.
That move made residents of the crime-racked city see red because the council had turned down their applications for access control.
Jan van Zyl, a former Democratic Alliance councillor for the ward that includes Bryntirion, and Kate Prinsloo, the councillor for the ward that includes the residential areas from Waterkloof to the Union Buildings, said all applications for gated communities had been turned down by the council since the approval of the road closures around Bryntirion.
Prinsloo said residents were angry about the security upgrades at Bryntirion, particularly since they had not been consulted or informed about how the construction work would affect them.
She said she had been inundated with complaints from residents’ associations. Their main concern was increased traffic in Colbyn, where street closures were in effect, and in Arcadia, where construction vehicles would be moving in and out of residential areas during the building of the wall.
“The residents have no idea what this wall is going to look like, even whether it’s a wall or a fence. They don’t know how long this is going to take. The government has not discussed it with anybody, not the residents’ associations, not the ward committee.”
Controversy arose this week about the millions of rands of public money to be spent by the department of public works to upgrade security around the plush estate, which also houses Tito Mboweni, the Reserve Bank governor.
Bryntirion residents don’t have to go far to find a policeman in an emergency. The estate has its own police station. The crime rate is said to be very low.
It also has a diplomatic guest house and a private golf course.
The security project was announced only a few weeks after Mbeki denied on national television that crime was out of control.
As opposition parties criticised the expenditure, the government defended it, saying it was part of the “routine security and maintenance plan” for state assets.
Bryntirion was established in 1903. It has been the official residence of cabinet ministers since 1910 and of presidents since 1940.
How the tender for upgrading or replacing the wall, fence and security systems around Bryntirion was awarded, and to whom it was awarded, have not been made known.
It has been reported that the work will cost the taxpayer about R90-million but Thami Mchunu, the public works spokesperson, said the cost would be closer to R60-million. He said the wall would not be built from imported materials.
“People think the cost is too high, but we are looking at a perimeter of close to 10km. We certainly don’t think what we are doing is extravagant.
“We are just carrying out our responsibility for housing [the president and the cabinet] and ensuring their security,” said Mchunu.
Construction, cement and security companies approached for comment about the R90-million widely reported as the cost of the wall said they could not conceive of a 10km perimeter wall costing anywhere near that amount.
This article was originally published on page 1 of Sunday Independent on February 25, 2007
Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>