The establishment of ward committees forms part of realising the constitutional mandate that community participation forms an integral part of participatory governance.

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It is against this edict that the Municipal Structures Act of 1998 provides for the establishment of ward committees as a mechanism to effect this constitutional directive.

The function of ward committees is to bridge the gap between municipalities and communities by encouraging neighbourhoods to play a leading role in actioning and vocalising change in their communities.

Ward committees assist with service delivery by working with the ward councillor to identify service delivery bottlenecks, ensure accountability and assist in driving civic education by delivering information that affects their wards.

These structures are consultative forums that are independent and non-partisan and must be impartial in carrying out duties. Ward committees have the authority to make recommendations to their chairperson on matters affecting their ward.

As part of nation-building, ward committees augment social cohesion through representation and inclusion. The composition of ward committees must be gender representative, legibility is according to rigorous pre-determined criteria and ward councillors become chairpersons of the ward committee once established. It must have 10 persons of diverse interests and sectors in its ward.

The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) Ward Committee nomination process will be open from March 1 to 11. Ward committee elections will run from April 28 to 30. Nomination forms will be available at the Legislature Offices at the city’s customer care centres (CCC).

Communities are encouraged to forward eligible names for nomination. All civil society organisations must also forward their names for registration on the Public Participation Database for ease of communication closer to the nomination process dates. This can be done through the Legislature Offices at your nearest CCC.