SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: Billing crisis: coddled, childish, rude and embarrassing
What was also clear from the Let's Fix It day at Marks Park is that the honeymoon with the new administration is well and truly over, if there ever was one
A little over a week ago, I had the displeasure of spending a morning in a hot marquee erected on a dusty cricket field in Emmarentia for the City of Johannesburg's Let's Fix It day. It was an event at which council employees were on hand to sort out some of the thousands of billing queries that have plagued the council for years, and continue to bedevil the new administration. I got there early, as did others. And as we settled into our seats, it started: the comments, the rudeness of some residents towards council staff and the eye-rolling. I am a master of the blank stare, especially in circumstances when green eyes try to connect with my blue eyes to roll so we can say together, silently: "Oh, the incompetence." There was nothing of the sort. The many city staff members I dealt with were helpful, patient and polite. Although I can't vouch that their nerves weren't thoroughly frayed by the end of the day. I confess I did do some eye-rolling myself when a resident was telling a ci...
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