Although Ashley Rutherford donned the mantle of councillor for Ward 92 only on July 2, she has years of experience in community work to her name.
The highly organised 54-year-old was born in Johannesburg, but has been a resident on the East Rand for 35 years.
She matriculated at Dawnview High School in 1977 and then obtained a Secretarial Diploma at Germiston Technical College, before starting work at Besco and then moving on to Percon, where she held various positions for more than 30 years.
Ashley had been active in the Community Policing Forum since 2004, but, in 2009, after a week in which 40 incidents of crime occurred in Witfield, where she lives, she launched the Witfield Residents.
This allowed the community to make direct contact with provincial police commissioner Lieut Gen Mzwandile Petros and to adopt his Know your Neighbour and Take back Your Street projects.
She also launched a Facebook group, which gave residents a platform from which to share information on happenings – good and bad — in the neighbourhood.
The desperate residents emerged from behind their high walls and fences, got to know each other and started keeping an eye out for suspicious-looking strangers in their area, openly photographing vehicles which were parked in local streets, but did not belong there.
It took only a short time for criminals to grasp that sooner or later they would noticed and to move on to greener pastures.
Five years later Witfield Residents is still going strong and crime in the suburb is still down to a minimum.
In 2012, Ashley decided to take a break from work, but soon found herself totally immersed in problem solving for the community. With more time on her hands, she found herself being approached to sort out service delivery difficulties and got to know officials at the metro municipality as she sought solutions to problems involving electricity blackouts, water and sewer leaks, illegal dumping and more.
She was then approached by the Democratic Alliance to stand for council in Ward 92, in a by-election, following the general election earlier this year.
Since being elected, Ashley has already started focusing on problems in the ward.
She has established a Facebook page called Ward92community, where residents can post their concerns and complaints, as well as information that can assist with the safety and security of fellow Ward 92 constituents.
“I will investigate these postings and give feedback as soon as possible,” Ashley said.
“I have started looking into issues of concern for residents and am working on a plan to establish a vegetable garden in Elandsfontein, where there are many underprivileged people.
“I have found people willing to assist with the garden, where produce will be available to the needy, and am about to discuss the use of ground for this purpose with the South African Railways.”I am also working on the sewage leak issue which affects residents from Elandfontein to Edenvale.
“A contractor is on site to assist with repairs to the broken sewer line, which will stop the leak, but major reconstruction of the system is needed, starting in Wadeville, which will be an extremely expensive operation.
“Illegal dumping is another huge problem throughout the ward and this needs urgent attention.”
Ashley suggests that residents make full use of the community page at www.Ekurhuleni.gov.za/report-it.
“This site allows people to report problems on line, directly to the council, and they will immediately receive a reference number,” she said.
“Use the site to register concerns with street lights, traffic lights, electricity, roads, water, the sewerage system and waste.
“If there is a problem in a specific area as many people as possible in that area should bombard the site with the complaint; this should lead to a reaction from council.”
