With service delivery stalling from municipal entities like City Power, Johannesburg Water and the return of higher stages of load-shedding from Eskom, some are questioning the usefulness of ward councillors.
Community WhatsApp groups have become an essential space for residents or businesses to check, for example, if it is just their house that lost power or if a general electrical fault has occurred. So too is it a space where ward councillors are made aware of faults or problems that they can escalate to entities in a bid to have the issue resolved.
When the Roosevelt Park City Power substation trips after load-shedding for example, Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk will be alerted swiftly and so begins the laborious task of alerting City Power and dealing with hundreds of individual messages from frustrated residents.
The paper spoke to VanDyk and Ward 98 councillor Beverly Jacobs to better understand how this relatively new communication channel has impacted their day-to-day activities.
Below we investigate how this increasingly important role impacts some councillors’ ability to carry out their duties.
Van Dyk said, “It is important to note that we have no authority to give instructions to officials, and we do not work for the entities.”
Spokesperson for City Power Isaac Mangena said, “Councillors are not allowed to tell City of Johannesburg officials what to do or how to do their jobs. This is a legislated rule for various reasons, including trying to curb abuse of power and corruption.”
Jacobs said, “Two of the core functions of a councillor are 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.”
Van Dyk added, “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. Yet, with entities failing to perform effectively, our role in escalating issues becomes crucial to ensure action is taken.”
