A paltry offering of about 20 people showed up for both the Salt Rock and Ballito ward committee elections last week.
Speaking at the Salt Rock election, KwaDukuza councillor John Phala, who headed up the process, said he was disappointed with the public’s disinterest.
“Although local government may be the smallest unit, it is the most important because it is the closest to the people. It is disappointing to see that out of the more than 4 000 people in the ward 22 voters role, only 20 have shown up.”
Also read: Meet the new Ballito ward committee
Phala said that no organization was perfect and that they need people to get involved and to have their say.
“By not doing so, they are standing on the sidelines, distancing themselves but criticising,” he said.
Five new members were voted into the ward six and ward 22 committees after existing members resigned for personal reasons since 2016.
The voting process was overseen by KwaDukuza municipality’s public participation unit. Both committees are made up of 10 residents who work together with the councillors to report problems experienced in their respective areas.
Both DA ward 22 and ward 6 councillors Malcolm Hubner and Tammy Colley, said they were happy with the outcome of the elections and hoped that their committees would be successful.
Also read: Meet the Salt Rock ward committee
Hubner stressed that councillors needed support from their wards.
“People need to work together because the more noise you make, the more gets done,” he said.
He added that they were still to decide the portfolio of the new members.
The new ward 22 committee are: Jane Clarkson, Martha Neves, Zanela Khoza and Sthembile Myeni. They join the existing members: Hoffie Rautenbach, Mbalie Skakane, Stuart Weston, Lucky Mnisi, Hans Brose and Penny Fourie. The new Ballito committee members are Flip Helberg, Sindisiwe Mitcaba, Ricky van Huyssteen, Themba Khumalo and Thobile Gumede.
They join existing members: Annet Sewraj, Loshnie Mohanlal, Thoko Shezi, Mantombi Mkhize, Thobile Gumede and Zama Lebakeng.
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