Ward councillors are key

Yes, Johannesburg is in a terrible state. Yes, political parties are squabbling and behaving disgracefully. Yet it is incorrect to say, as a Sunday newspaper did this week, “elected representatives engage in a farcical contest aimed at nothing but divvying up positions and gaining power”. We hear similar comments daily.

The cynicism and dismay are understandable but I need to make a case here for the only directly elected public representatives in South Africa – ward councillors.

All other public representatives, from the president downwards, are chosen by their parties, not by the people they are supposed to serve.

In Johannesburg, there are 270 councillors but only half (135) are ward councillors. Ward councillors are accountable to residents, who have no hesitation in phoning them any time of day or night, any day of the week. Weekends included.

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The other 135 council seats are allocated to parties roughly in proportion to the number of votes received. These PR (proportional representation) councillors are not directly elected by residents. They are selected by their parties. They are not accountable to residents in the same way as ward councillors are accountable. They are accountable to their parties. So, too, are ward councillors.

ActionSA (44 seats) and the EFF (29) between them have zero ward councillors directly accountable to residents for 24/7 problems of electricity, water outages and myriad other issues.

PR councillors can be replaced at the whim of party bosses. It takes a lot more to remove a ward councillor. Such a step would result in a by-election, whereas a PR councillor can simply be replaced from a party list. In fact, there doesn’t even have to be a list.

Take for example Kenny Kunene, who was on Monday sworn in as Johannesburg City PR councillor and elevated to the mayoral committee. Hypothetically, if he were to fall out with Patriotic Alliance boss Gayton McKenzie, the party could simply remove him.

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Mayors and MMCs may come and go with each change in coalition arrangements. PR councillors can be removed and replaced at the whim of party bosses. But ward councillors remain for the five-year term, trying their best to help residents while infrastructure and services visibly collapse.

Ward councillors are in the front line for abuse when residents rightly feel outraged at any of the things malfunctioning in what is supposed to be a City of Gold.

I have found that it is not much use explaining the limitations of councillors’ authority, or which party messed up which portfolio. Or who’s responsible for fixing potholes, or why City Power can’t cope. The attitude is: we voted for you. Just damn well fix it.

Mostly, ward councillors are not “engaged in a farcical contest aimed at nothing but divvying up positions and gaining power”. Such contests are conducted mainly between PR councillors, assisted by their party bosses.

ALSO READ: Sunninghill residents want DA ward councillor removed

Coalition politics is not working constructively in Johannesburg. Negotiations are controlled by party leaders at national level. Coalitions, we are told, are the future for SA at national level.

Perhaps it’s time to use any party congresses between now and 2024 to vote in leaders more suited to coalition negotiations.