July 7, 2006
By Anish Abraham
ALL registered voters are being urged to take part in the upcoming ward committee elections across the city.
These elections will be the first held since the start of the local governments' new term of office following national local government elections in March.
Johannesburg has 109 wards, more than any other municipality in South Africa. The eThekweni Metro is second, with 101 wards.
Residents will be able to nominate candidates and vote for their local ward committees.
"Ward committees are bodies which advise the ward councillors on critical issues,"says Pat Nhlapo, assistant director in charge of public participation in the Office of the Speaker. "They are also a vital means of public input for the Integrated Development Planning and budgetary processes."
These committees also act as a link between the local communities and the elected ward councillor.
"We want them to monitor the performance of the Metro in the respective wards and act as an oversight structure,"says Kureish Isaacs, manager for ward committee support in the Office of the Speaker.
According to Isaacs, the committees can only make recommendations to the ward councillors, not take decisions. However, they play a vital role in acting as the eyes and ears of the local councillor, providing the elected representatives with valuable information on residents' needs.
"It will ensure that we do not build white elephants,"explains Nhlapo.
Ward committees are elected to serve a term of two and a half years, up from the original one-year term. "Council spends a lot of resources to ensure these people are well trained to serve the community, so we felt there was a need for greater continuity and sustainability,"says Isaacs of the change.
Ward committee elections
Nominations for ward committees have already opened at all regional head offices.
The City hopes to hold community meetings – where the committees are elected – by August.
"It might be difficult to have all ward committees finalised by then, as we have a large number of wards and there might also be disputes about certain elected candidates,"says Nhlapo, adding: "But we will be happy as long as 80 to 90 percent of the ward committees are established by 31 August."
Nomination forms should be available at all the People's Centres by the third week of July.
To be eligible, the candidate has to be a registered voter residing within the ward and must also not be indebted to the municipality.
Two residents must nominate a candidate for a specific sector and then get their candidate to accept the nomination. Once this is done the completed form must be handed in to the councillor support staff at one of the regional head offices.
"Then we move on to the community meetings where these candidates can give the residents some form of motivation for their candidacy,"Nhlapo adds.
Then elections are held.
"We urge communities to make sure they know that the person they elect will work for their benefit,"Nhlapo says.
Current ward committee members are eligible for re-election. "There is no problem with re-election since we have already invested so much in them,"says Isaacs.
Sectors
Each ward committee is made up of 11 members: the ward councillor, who is the chair, and the 10 elected members.
The 10 sectors to be represented on each ward committee are:
- Finance economic development (business, labour, development forums)
- Community development (women, youth, elderly, religious groups, civic and ratepayers associations, CBO, NGO, sports and recreation, education)
- Infrastructure and services (all municipal services such as roads, streetlights, water, refuse collection)
- Development planning and urban management (land use issues)
- Housing
- Health
- Transport
- Safety (community policing forums)
- Corporate services and administration (People's Centres, call centre, revenue, tender procedure, policy issues, access to information)
- Environment
"These sectors have been changed in light of the new organisational design of the City of Johannesburg,"explains Nhlapo.
During committee meetings, minutes are taken by a secretary provided by the councillor support staff from the local regional head office.
"This ensures that the minutes taken during the meetings reach the relevant portfolio in council and that the views of community representatives are heard,"says Nhlapo.
Public participation
A study by the City entitled
Enhancing citizenship in the City of Johannesburg: An evaluation of current public participation initiatives has found two forms of public participation: residents in the poorer south prefer direct contact with elected officials and City administrators in the form of meetings to discuss their problems, while their wealthier northern counterparts prefer non-direct means of communication like email, telephone conversations and the internet.
"The study shows that public participation in the City of Johannesburg has increased over the years, though there is still room for improvement,"he says.
One issue that needed to be addressed is that when all services are satisfactory, the public sees very little need to communicate with the municipality – depriving residents of the opportunity to participate in the IDP and budgetary processes.
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