Marema calls for active residents
ALEXANDRA – Marema urges residents to help councillors to help them better.
Alex councillor Adolph Marema advised residents to attend community meetings to familiarise themselves with the roles of their public representatives.
Marema of Ward 116 responded to complaints made to Alex News by residents on councillors’ unavailability at their offices to provide, particularly, proof of their residence required by prospective employers or to open credit accounts. The complainants alleged that councillors are rarely in their offices and wondered what their roles are.
Read: Developments take shape in ward 116
Marema said the working hours of 8am to 4pm posted on councillors’ office doors indicate official working time in and out of the offices, ward and township. “Hence we have office administrators to attend to residents’ concerns when we are elsewhere still on duty.”
He conceded that the administrators were not mandated, familiar or able to attend to more complex concerns which require a councillor’s attention. “In this instance, I have engaged a specific person as added capacity to contact or schedule meetings for me with complainants.”
Marema urged other councillors to consider doing the same which, however, will be at their own cost.
He said residents should have attended councillors’ inaugural public meetings to acquaint themselves with their inner functions, their contact details, how to avoid problems before they occur and also who and how else to approach other City Council and service agencies without going through councillors. “Our role to ensure promised service delivery is availed to residents assisted by the residents themselves.
“They are obliged to report many of their issues to relevant departments and keep reference numbers of complaints they log and only seek the councillor’s assistance when the promised action fails.”
Marema said while this routine procedure may work well elsewhere, Alex’s has a challenge of confirming addresses due to informal, illegal and transient nature of residents. “Only a small fraction of residents have official addresses.
“We can only affirm the residents’ addresses if they are known either through active involvement in the wards’ activities, attend councillor’s and ward committee meetings, join WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook groups or ask others to support them through petitions which have their ID numbers.”
Read: Ward councillors in Alex and their contact details
He said councillors also live in their wards and are familiar with most residents through informal engagement and walking around to familiarise themselves with prevailing conditions. “Belonging to these communication and contact platforms also provides complainants with advice which others can use to avert similar challenges before they arise.”
He urged residents to also keep councillors’ and ward committee members’ contact details. “But please contact us after hours and on weekends only on urgent matters which require solutions from the emergency units of council departments.”
