THE DA Democratic AllianceParty has appointed Olwethu Ntame as its chief whip in the Buffalo City Metro council. Municipality.
The vibrant 28-year-old re places Kevin Mileham, who takes up a position in Parliament.
Ntame, who was Mileham’s deputy, becomes the DA’s first female chief whip in the metro council, a feat she achieved in her first term as a councillor.
She told the Daily Dispatch last week she planned to be tough on the ruling ANC and persistent on issues raised in council. even though they are usually ignored.
One of those, she said, was a motion of no confidence in may or Zukiswa Ncitha that the DA is to file in the next council meeting following a Dispatch exposé on the mayor’s travel spending.
Ntame is a relative newcomer in politics. She joined the DA in 2007, becoming increasingly active after 2008 when she was appointed got the job of student representative council (SRC) vice-president at Buffalo City College, where she is studying financial management.
“That is actually where I got involved in politics,” she said.
It proved a negative experience and it was this that drove her to seek a home in the DA. She said pre-agreed deals by SRC leaders aligned to the ANC-aligned SA Students Congress (Sasco) meant their input was not taken seriously. Sasco is ANC-aligned.
“You will find that FET colleges are being invited to conferences where we are just there to fill the numbers, because what we are going there to decide on has already been de cided on. Your input, when you see the actual paperwork, you ask yourself where is it?”
On her new position, Ntame said she expected it to be a tough task, but she was prepared for it.
“The issue when you get there is service delivery. That’s why we are there and you don’t need experience to know that people are not getting wa ter or they are not getting any of the services they are supposed to be getting,” she said.
But the real challenge in council, she contended, is to get the ANC to play ball. The opposition was they were constantly being brushed aside by the ruling party.
“They don’t care about it . For instance, we have written letters, motions and e- mails, but you don’t get any response – not even just to say, ‘Yes I have received your e-mail’,” she said, adding that sometimes even when they did get information, it was not the answers they needed.
“When it comes to council rules like speaking time, are not adhered to. Opposition members get cut short, especially when they touch on sen sitive matters, but then several ANC members will be talking and just repeating themselves.”
But Ntame said she was look ing forward to working with her colleagues from other parties, including the ANC, especially during the multi-party whippery meetings. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za
Ntame named as DA chief whip in BCM
The vibrant 28-year-old re places Kevin Mileham, who takes up a position in Parliament.
Ntame, who was Mileham’s deputy, becomes the DA’s first female chief whip in the metro council, a feat she achieved in her first term as a councillor.
She told the Daily Dispatch last week she planned to be tough on the ruling ANC and persistent on issues raised in council. even though they are usually ignored.
One of those, she said, was a motion of no confidence in may or Zukiswa Ncitha that the DA is to file in the next council meeting following a Dispatch exposé on the mayor’s travel spending.
Ntame is a relative newcomer in politics. She joined the DA in 2007, becoming increasingly active after 2008 when she was appointed got the job of student representative council (SRC) vice-president at Buffalo City College, where she is studying financial management.
“That is actually where I got involved in politics,” she said.
It proved a negative experience and it was this that drove her to seek a home in the DA. She said pre-agreed deals by SRC leaders aligned to the ANC-aligned SA Students Congress (Sasco) meant their input was not taken seriously. Sasco is ANC-aligned.
“You will find that FET colleges are being invited to conferences where we are just there to fill the numbers, because what we are going there to decide on has already been de cided on. Your input, when you see the actual paperwork, you ask yourself where is it?”
On her new position, Ntame said she expected it to be a tough task, but she was prepared for it.
“The issue when you get there is service delivery. That’s why we are there and you don’t need experience to know that people are not getting wa ter or they are not getting any of the services they are supposed to be getting,” she said.
But the real challenge in council, she contended, is to get the ANC to play ball. The opposition was they were constantly being brushed aside by the ruling party.
“They don’t care about it . For instance, we have written letters, motions and e- mails, but you don’t get any response – not even just to say, ‘Yes I have received your e-mail’,” she said, adding that sometimes even when they did get information, it was not the answers they needed.
“When it comes to council rules like speaking time, are not adhered to. Opposition members get cut short, especially when they touch on sen sitive matters, but then several ANC members will be talking and just repeating themselves.”
But Ntame said she was look ing forward to working with her colleagues from other parties, including the ANC, especially during the multi-party whippery meetings. — aphiwed@dispatch.co.za
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