In community WhatsApp groups, some residents are questioning the effectiveness of ward councillors.
The paper has previously reported on how with higher levels of load-shedding, water problems and other ills, councillors are spending much of their day escalating queries for residents.
Below we investigate how this increasingly important role impacts some councillors’ ability to carry out their duties. Here are their responses.
Ward 98 councillor Beverly Jacobs
“Two of the core functions of a councillor is to be able to communicate the needs of the community at council level and to monitor the performance of entities. It is unfortunate that as the entities grapple with issues of rapidly failing infrastructure and a sharp increase in lawlessness, which includes the attacks on city infrastructure, councillors have become the call centre for various entities. A role that is neither sustainable nor intended.
“The political role of the councillor is currently lost in the flurry of residents’ understandable, rising frustrations.
“It is vital for providing the community with political choice, political education, and political party offerings, which could lead to informed and sound choices. Not having enough of this puts the resident at a disadvantage because the lack of entity performance reflects as an output on the councillor’s performance, which is untrue.”
Ward 88 councillor Nicolene Jonker
“There is always more you wish you can do, but with the current state of the city, I feel like a firefighter at times.
“There is a fine balance between understanding the entity’s challenges and my residents’ frustrations. Unfortunately, entities do not always stick to their own service level agreements, and I do try my best to keep them accountable for promises they made to their customers, my constituents in Ward 88.
“The 2024 elections are national and provincial elections. I am sure my community see how hard we work to keep things going in our wards. They understand the challenges we face and took a stance on helping to put pressure on the current administration. If you look at the budget we received for the 2023/24 financial year, it clearly indicates that Region B, under which Ward 88 falls, is the forgotten residents of this ‘World-Class African City’.”
Ward 99 ouncillor Nicole van Dyk
“A ward councillor’s job is meant to be a part-time one; however, due to the constant failures of entities, our responsibilities have transformed into that of ambulance chasers, requiring us to be available 24 hours a day.
“Our main focus now is on escalating issues, even before the service level agreement (SLA) is reached. We are aware that unless we escalate, the chances of the matter being dealt with, especially by entities like Joburg Water and City Power, are slim to none.
“Ideally, our role should be one of oversight. This means that when entities fail, we raise these issues at Section 79 committees, and present them to the executive in council. We are expected to represent our constituents in council meetings and participate in various meetings and forums. These engagements are intended for contributing to debates and discussions, exchanging, and evaluating information, and solving problems at a council level. Additionally, we disseminate council information, such as updates from committees and council sittings, and serve as a communication link between the municipal council and the community.
“However, it is not our role to act as intermediaries between service providers and customers. Unfortunately, when entities fail miserably, the councillor becomes the only person to answer the call, while stakeholders remain uninvolved.
“Our role should also involve inspiring and developing teamwork within the council and our communities, like the ward resident associations. We should engage in forward planning, strategic input, and policy development alongside our oversight responsibilities.
“As councillors, we are responsible for monitoring the performance of the municipality in terms of service delivery and financial accountability. We act as custodians of public finances, including the annual budget.
“A councillor should be the last point of escalation prior to reaching out to the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) and the mayor. It is important to note that we have no authority to give instructions to officials, and we do not work for the entities. Yet, with entities failing to perform effectively, our role in escalating issues becomes crucial to ensure action is taken.”
Ward 87 Councillor Bridget Steer
“Somehow, I think most of us manage to get to our core council work, but it means most of us are working 10 to 12-hour days, which isn’t optimal. Councillors should not be escalating issues that are within the service level agreement with the entity.”
“I do think that councillors’ time would be better spent preventing fires, rather than putting them out all day long. If we had more time, we would be able to do more work in the oversight committees to zoom into what is causing service delivery failures and trying to get those issues resolved. We would also have more time to do written questions to the MMCs to respond to in council. We do this when we are unable to get responses from the entities or departments. I worry about the perception some residents seem to have that the ward councillors are responsible for service delivery. It shows a lack of understanding about the separation of power.
“Ward councillors are in the legislature, and not the administration of the city. The mayor and his executive (MMCs) must report to the council and the residents on service delivery matters.
“Being an election year with the ANC in government, we are seeing the same old shenanigans with ANC wards getting most of the budget and service delivery. We literally have to beg for the basics in DA wards.”
Ward 86 councillor Chantelle Fourie-Shawe
“It is true that our days have shifted dramatically from being about looking closely at policy, doing oversight on service delivery and providing quarterly feedback to residents, to assisting with service delivery crisis management because we cannot sit idly by as our beloved communities deteriorate.
“However, this means that the core function of a ward councillor is changing in the eyes of the public to being that of a stakeholder manager or spokesperson of the very municipal departments we are supposed to keep a close eye on. However, the DA believes in a whole-of-society approach to fixing our social problems. We must take hands with all interested role players to save South Africa, so we will continue to do what needs to be done in the hope that we will one day no longer be one of the few at the forefront.”
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