Over 80 percent petitions unresolved – PSC

In the last five years, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) has not resolved over 1 100 petitions, according to the Petitions Standing Committee (PSC).

A petition is a means of getting a complaint heard. Individuals or groups of residents are entitled to petition the CoJ about any issues that falls within the council’s jurisdiction. These could range from complaints about library operating hours and municipal services’ rates, to the upgrading of local clinics, CoJ explained.

Ward councillor and member of the PSC, Steve Kotze, however, said it is not quite the case in Johannesburg. “The administration of the ruling party lacks the political will, capacity and ability to process the high number of petitions received. Although the submission of a petition does not guarantee that a request will be granted, it does ensure that a petitioner’s voice will be heard, considered and promptly responded to, in writing,” he said.

The CoJ has not responded to comment on the unresolved petitions, but according to its website the process of submitting a complaint begins with collecting signatures and handing them to your ward councillor, who then hands them over to the petitions officer.

The officer will, after investigation, hand them over to the Petitions Management Committee. According to the CoJ, the committee then decides on the appropriate method of reporting the outcome of the petition, within three weeks.

“Depending on the nature of the petition, this outcome may be communicated in writing or verbally at a meeting by committee members, ward councillor, regional director, the utilities agency or corporatised entity (UACs), city manager, the executive mayor, the speaker or a member of the mayoral committee. For record and future reference purposes, the final results are placed onto a consolidated petition register, where the initial petition was logged. The register is updated weekly from regions and kept in the office of the city manager for constant monitoring and to provide information to the provincial and national governments on matters that they too are being petitioned on,” it said.

However, Kotze said only about 260 petitions were completed out of 1 446 during the first quarter of this financial year. “I believe you don’t always have to give people what they ask for, if there is a good reason not to do so, but at least let petitioners know in writing what those reasons are,” he explained.

Kotze added that most of the outstanding petitions are in the transportation portfolio. “Despite the PSC reporting to the city’s legislature, headed by the speaker of council, petitions remain unresolved in the speaker’s office. The same applies to the executive mayor’s office and the chief whip of council,” he said.

Eric Monhla, the coordinator for the PSC, said 1 446 petitions were lodged from 2011 until the first quarter of this financial year. He agreed that the results were shocking, but said a better administration of petition would improve the current situation.

Details: www.joburg.org.za

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