Ward 82 Councillor Susan Stewart is a champion in her ward as she deals with many problems that plague her constituents on a daily basis.
Stewart’s ward covers Newlands and Westbury among other areas and for the past five years she has been dealing with problems such as poverty, unemployment, crime and the scourge of drugs.
“I really love what I do, even though it takes up most of my time. I want to make my constituents’ lives better and to give them hope,” she said.
She pointed out that her ward has the highest stock of municipal rentals in Joburg and this causes her many headaches as the buildings are dilapidated and under-serviced by the City of Joburg.
“Due to the high unemployment rate in my ward there are some residents who can afford to pay their rent but many others who are unable to do so due to their unemployed status,” she said.
Stewart said that at times she found her job frustrating as she had to deal with the different departments within the City and found that there was little to no communication between the different entities.
“Its so frustrating that we are working within a system that does not function adequately, and a lot of the City’s policy’s are flawed. The City needs to implement policies that are more practical in terms of implementation as that will make our jobs of facilitating much easier,” Stewart explained.
The mother of four boys noted that in her tenure as ward councillor she had won several feats for her constituents such as the establishment of several parks and a road upgrade which included a cycle lane and a wall enclosing Westbury Train Station among others.
“I had to, however, block a proposed plan by the City to build more flats as this was going to cause more problems. The City failed to conduct proper consultations with the residents and they need to first concentrate on the existing structures by rendering adequate maintenance. To bring in more people in and around my ward is just not going to work, as hospitals and schools are at full capacity and cannot accept more people. Even the schools in the area turn pupils away due to being full. So where would all the new people be accommodated in terms of service delivery,” Stewart lamented.
She added that she would be running again as ward councillor in the upcoming municipal elections. What she wanted was coherence within the structures of the City because this would make her job easier and more functional.
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