“Take ownership of your community”
"It’s all about taking ownership of your community. If there’s crime, report the crime."
In order for issues to be resolved, residents need to understand the processes which are in place. Westside Urban sat down with Genevieve Sherman who is the Councillor of Ward 69.
According to Cllr Sherman, there are reporting structures that residents need to follow.
“We dealing with Municipal Owned Entities (MOE) which are our City Parks, City Power, Joburg Road Agency, Joburg Water and so forth, are your departments. It is very important for residents to first log a call with the various entities.
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“Residents can call the entities or log into their websites, it’s fast and they will have their reference numbers in no time. Each department has its own time frame as to how long they will take to sort the matter out.
“For an example, burst pipes are deemed as an immediate reaction because of the whole water shortages in the country. Once the time frames are over and the issue has still not been seen to, it is only then when residents can send the reference number to me and I will escalate the issue with the specific entity,” explained Cllr Sherman.
Another thing that’s the Cllr stressed was for residents to take note of is that there are 13000 people in Ward 69 and as much as people feel that their issues are more important than the next, its impossible for her as the councillor to deal with just one residents’ issue individually.
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Look&Log, people can go to the website https://www.lookandlog.co.za to see how the different entities work. The site also has all the necessary contact details were logging of calls can be made.
“The main thing that I’d like our residents to do is to take responsibilities for their areas. We have illegal dumping and I’d like people to name and shame these people who are dumping so that they can be held accountable for their actions,” said Cllr Sherman.
Residents should Whatsapp or SMS Cllr Michael Sun on 082 779 1361 to report illegal dumping. The Cllr would also like for more residents to get involved in a campaign called ‘A Re Sebetseng’ which was started by Mayor Herman Mashaba were residents clean their areas once a month.
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“Westdene residents are doing well in this initiative. Residents choose a spot that needs to be cleaned, City Parks provides gloves and plastic bags to residents and Pickit Up will collect the bags after the cleanup,” explain the Cllr.
“It’s all about taking ownership of your community. If there’s crime, report the crime,” said Cllr Sherman.
To log calls contact the below entities:
Joburg Water: email: customerservice@jwater.co.za or call 011 688 1699 or SMS on 082 653 2143
City power: log using your mobile device: citypower.mobi
Joburg Roads Agency: hotline@jra.org.za or if urgent call 0860JOBURG -option 5.
For the A Re Sebetseng campaign residents can call 087 357 1126 or email on aresebetseng@pikitup.co.za
Emergency Medical Services or Johannesburg Metro Police Department on 011 3755 911
To contact your Ward Councillors:
Cllr Genevieve Sherman – Ward 69 on 073 543 9123
Cllr Basil Douglas – Ward 68 on 076 225 0542
Cllr Susan Stewart – Ward 82 on 071 253 3356
