----- Original Message -----

From: Lee Cahill

To: Mayor Amos Masondo
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 8:58 AM
Subject: Please speak to us, Mr Mayor

Dear Mayor Masondo,

The e-mail from the Chairman of the Kensington Residents' Association (below) refers.

I understand how incredibly difficult it must be to run a big metro like the City of Johannesburg, and I
know I would find it an overwhelming task myself. However, the fact of the matter is that the city's
operating system just isn't working effectively, and that the contract between local government and the
people it has been elected to serve has broken down.

At this time, more than ever, your people need you, Mr Mayor - please speak to us.

We occasionally see your photograph in the newspaper, especially when you've visited a 2010 site,
but as the rumbling about service delivery threatens to become a storm, we need you out in the
community, listening to our experiences and our suggestions, and showing your commitment to
dealing with the problems that are besetting our city from the CBD to the suburbs and the townships.

Many residents' associations in towns across the country have embarked on campaigns to withhold
the payment of rates in order to register their protest at the kind of service delivery problems we are
experiencing in our city. This course of action is one that many in Johannesburg support, and
residents are currently considering a similar course of action.

However, the Joburg Advocacy Group, of which I am the founding member, has become increasingly
concerned about the deeply divisive nature of these campaigns, and especially the way in which
communities are becoming divided along racial lines.

We feel there must be a better solution, and ask that you meet with myself and a few members of our
group to discuss these. We have some concrete proposals, drawn from our collective experience in
the corporate sector, that we feel would enable us to begin to bridge the gap between the city and its
residents, to find some solutions to the many problems we are experiencing on a day-to-day basis,
and to focus on building a city we can all be proud of as a united community.

Please, Mr Mayor, I am writing to you in the spirit of co-operation and with sincere commitment to
taking simple, practical action in order to address our city's problems. Please give us an hour of your
time to hear what we have to propose. I can be contacted on 011 614 0690 to set up a time, and hope
to hear from your office soon.

Thank you and kind regards,

Lee Cahill

Lee Cahill (Ms)

Founding Member: Joburg Advocacy Group

P.O. Box 28557

Kensington
2101
Tel: 011 614 0690
e-Mail: lee.cahill@telkomsa.net

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----- Original Message -----

From: Brendon Burmester
To: Oscar Oliphant ; ClaireR@joburg.org.za ; Carol Milner ; DANIE ; Clr. Victor Penning ;
cleveland.saps@saps.org.za ; Captain Leslie Bowler ; carlos da rocha ; conradis@bsci.com ;
hooijbrg@mweb.co.za ; louisec@sla.co.za ; rmgmonteiro@gmail.com ; sondav@wbs.co.za ;
vivien@mweb.co.za ; Colm ; Lynn L. McKay ; Lee Cahill ; annacox@icon.co.za ; chitra ; Shierly
Ancer ; Clr. Amos Masondo ; Daniel Walter
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 10:40 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: car breaking Jupiter St, Kensington

Good evening,

It is with increasing despair that I mail you!

I must start by asking what is actually happening in Johannesburg. I spent time driving around town
outside of Kensington in Rosebank, Sunninghill. Sandton, Bez Valley, Observatory and our city is in a
mess - weeds, litter, people driving like maniacs and, to top it all, ANOTHER murder in Highland
Road. Where are the guys cleaning the pavements, removing weeds and trimming trees? Can
someone please be upfront with the ratepayers of this city and explain why we are in such a mess?

Following on from that comment I need to ask, what are we doing about preparing for 2010 - has
the Metro council forgotten about the event? In the time I've been here Johannesburg has never
looked this tatty??

We have logged calls asking for the replacement of drain covers and I see that this problem is
spreading through out our area. The famous Carte Blanche drain cover has been removed in
Cumberland Road, the illegal signage is mushrooming around all over, I have personally requested
that the pavement be properly reinstated along Kitchener near Rhodes Park (that must be more than
four months ago now), the road surfacing in Queens Street is ever deteriorating - ag I can go on and
on!

Please will someone explain why after my recent visit to Cape Town, I feel as if we are being
SERIOUSLY ripped off by this incompetant council? Why are their roads in far better condition, their
streets cleaner, street trading in that city well controlled? And why are we being held randsom in our
own homes by criminals?

To the Mayor: well, as per the previous mail I sent to you - and judging by your enthusiastic lack of
response - I suppose you really don't care about the very suburb you live in. I would be incredibly
impressed if you came out of your ivory tower and actually met with the residents of this area to listen
to their concerns. To date, we have not seen you at any community meetings etc. You are a resident
and I'm sure read the paper, so surley you would know of the meetings that the residents association
hold?

To end this off, we will be supporting an intiative lead by a Kensington resident to make people aware
of the devastating effect crime is having on our comnmunity, please see her mail:

One of our guards on our neighbourhood watch, Clifford Phakati, was attacked in Highland Road,
Kensington on Thursday night by eight armed men. He died on Saturday from his injuries. I have tied a
big red ribbon around our tree on our pavement in his memory, with an explanatory note attached. I
urge you all to do the same.

Join the "Tie a red ribbon around your tree" initiative - more in our discussion group on Facebook.

It has been a week from hell: Fergus's office hit last Monday; Kezi's offices hit last Thursday; an
elderly neighbour mugged in broad daylight in his driveway; the tragic hijacking a couple of weeks
ago; and now this. I love this country. I am frustrated with this country. I do not know what to do with
my anger and sadness but I do hope that rows and rows of beautiful Kensington trees wrapped in red
fabric with people's own notes on them will make criminals think twice, may alert our little village that
we are under attack, or maybe just may make us look out for each other a little more.

Please forward this to anyone you know in Kensington.

Finally, please note that we will be having an open community meeting to discuss the crime
probelm in our area, and to put forward ideas for some community-based initiatives to fight
this problem:

When: 10 November 2009

Where: Kensington Community Centre, Rhodes Park (use Orlando Street entrance)
Time: 19:00

Regards,
Brendon Burmester
Chairperson of the Kensington Residents Association