This week’s question is not from a specific person, but rather a general question asked in our communities:
What is the role of a ward councillor in a community? What is he or she able to do about service delivery issues? If he or she can’t do much, why are they there?
Nicholas Lorimer, Ward 88 councillor, answered:
The role of the councillor needs to be understood in its relationship to other branches of government.
In South Africa, government is divided into three branches: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The executive is tasked with carrying out the law, they run the administrations, make appointments of officials and carry out the actual delivery of government. At local level, the executive is the mayor and his members of the mayoral committee (MMCs).
The legislature is tasked with voting on the laws which the executive has to implement and acts as oversight for the executive, making sure they are carrying out the laws. At local level, the legislature is the city council and the councillors. The judicial branch is not relevant to the role of the councillor. So what do these branches have to do with the role of a councillor? Councillors are part of the legislature, while entities such as City Power are controlled by the executive.
By law, these have to be kept separate so a councillor cannot interfere with the operation of the administration or order officials to do things. What councillors can do is raise issues and take problems from their community to the administration. This is done in different ways. When a councillor is in opposition, this is often done through questions to council and speeches in the council, as well as media campaigns.
When a councillor is in government, then issues are raised through your political party, or through reports to the MMCs and mayor directly, as well as in Section 79 committees. While a councillor cannot tell an official to replace the streetlight, they can tell the managers, the MMC and mayor that the streetlights are not being fixed and ask them to take action to address the situation. This is usually referred to as oversight and is mostly what councillors do.
A councillor’s main role is asking for money to be spent in their area through the Integrated Development Plan process, voting for bylaws and motions that decide on what the executive can and cannot do, and electing the mayor. A councillor can also give the executive a clear idea of the situation on the ground, represent their community in some circumstances and help people navigate the complexities of government.
Do you have a question for a ward councillor?
As a local newspaper, the Randburg Sun provides a platform for residents to learn about, understand and follow local government. As an extension of that, there is a weekly column, Councillor’s Corner, which is a platform for you, our readers, to voice your concerns or questions for ward councillors to respond to.
Email your burning question to aimeed@caxton.co.za
