Cushy, overpaid job awaits

If local government elections are held next year, why not apply for the cushy, overpaid position of ward councillor? Anyone can do the job.

Colleagues helped list these simple requirements: electrician; plumber; lawyer; law enforcer; town planner; horticulturist; vet; social worker; pastor; marriage counsellor; financial advisor; all with a high degree of tolerance. Add civil engineer (water); civil engineer (roads); trafficologist; waste management specialist; sound engineer.

On every street there are residents who know better than professionals. They will alternately ask questions or advice: “How many decibels is my neighbour’s generator allowed and why haven’t you done something about the fumes? Councillor, you must move that guy sleeping on the pavement.”

“What are you doing about shot-hole borer, why do dogs get ticks, is home affairs open today, why wasn’t the rubbish collected, why is the water pressure low today? Those workers fixing the electricity (or water leak, or pothole) don’t know what they are doing. Let me tell you, I know these things. Why don’t you bring in professionals?”

And so it goes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This is formally a part-time job but people will phone or text at any time. Occasionally, there’s an introductory apology for troubling you on a Sunday/public holiday but they don’t hold back their expectations. Lockdown has increased the volume and range of questions.

Ministerial Covid-19 briefings communicate little. Accompanying media releases and Gazette notices can be equally vague. So people turn to ward councillors. Yes, it is ridiculous to ban family/friend visits at home while allowing encounters with strangers in casinos, churches, cinemas, restaurants, etc.

The “war” against the virus is indeed sabotaged when super-spreader minibus taxis are allowed to be 100% full (down from their usual 200%). The initial hard lockdown was squandered. The country’s healthcare system remains ill-prepared for the infection surge. So we must endure another alcohol sales ban and much else. For what? There is no chance that preparations not achieved in more than 100 days will be accomplished in a couple of weeks.

Such comments are best delivered to President@presidency.gov.za or the Presidential Hotline 17737 (press 1 and ask for Nkosazana). Your call is important to them.

Most residents now realise that ward councillors have no role formulating or implementing this illogical stuff. Neither are we police officials or snitches. We try to make sense of nonsense, and help folks muddle through. Communication may be our most important function at this time.

Consider Covid-19’s effect on city services. Every Joburg depot, entity or office is affected. Closed one day, open the next, then closed again. Those hampered include billing, refuse collection, water, electricity, potholes, etc. And we have to push for communication. All this increases a councillor’s workload.

So I didn’t appreciate a recent comment that councillors should not be paid because services are slow. Not all councillors do it for the money. Some are wealthy retirees, others are sole breadwinners for extended families. I do it because, as Kahlil Gibran says: “Work is love made visible.”

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