Ward 69 committee election results

Confusion, anger, and dissatisfaction were the emotions felt by residents at the beginning of the Ward 69 committee elections on July 4 at the Coronationville Recreation Hall.

A resident from Slovo, Tebogo Mongale said, “I’m here to vote for the ward councillor Committee for Ward 69, not 58 because other people are from Ward 58. We want to participate in this ward, so I am here to vote today, no matter if we go out by 1 am or 3 am in the morning, I’m here to vote, my voice needs to be heard.”

According to councillor Genevieve Sherman, the nomination and election meeting comes after the February elections were only eight ward committee members were selected, leaving the transport, health and social development sectors open. The Ward Committee is a portfolio of 10 people who assist the councillor in various portfolios.

“The best criteria would be if you are already functioning or are busy in that specific portfolio. For example, a person who is part of the clinic committee,” said Sherman.

Residents were told to come with their Identity Documents (ID) or -cards so that when they entered the hall at the first table there residential status would be verified on the system.

Once the verification process was complete, they would proceed to the second table where the information from their ID’s was captured.

The whole commotion started when people skipped the first table and proceeded to the second table. It was found that there were over 50 residents who were not part of Ward 69 but belonged to Ward 58.

This confusion was caused by the split between the wards in Slovo Park. Some residents thought they belonged to Ward 69.

A few Ward 69 residents stressed that this was unfair as people who are not even part of their ward would be holding such power as to voting in a ward which they do not reside in. A few residents left the meeting before it even began as there was speculation that the meeting would be postponed.

The regional manager for ward governance, Vusi Tutu had to contact the Office of the Speaker of Council who advised that the meeting should continue.

Residents gathered on one side of the hall and were called individually subsequent to having their IDs checked again.

The meeting was scheduled to start at 6 pm but only started at 810 pm, those who were not on the list were asked to leave.

The nominations and election process went as follows, there was a proposer, a seconder and if there was more than one nominee then a vote with a show of hands. The two nominees for Health and Social Development were Maxwell Kejemere and Faeeza Davis.

For the transport sector, the nominees were Loreal Gonzalves and Hendrick Gaboutlwelwe. Both Kejemere and Gaboutlwelwe won by 87 votes.

Sherman explained the duty of a ward committee member, “Ward committee members are there only in an advisory capacity to the councillor, they may not dictate to the councillor, they may not supersede, they may not overpower. The Ward Committee is basically the eyes and ears for the councillor.”

She then added that Health and social development, for example, will deal with the clinics in the area, they will be involved in the social development they would have been a point of contact with the ESP that is currently running from social development.

They would get issues from the community, assist with those issues, they’ll intervene from that point of view. “On a quarterly basis, we have a meeting and then they will bring their reports and as a whole, we will then discuss various issues pertaining to each portfolio and what the way forward would be,” concluded Sherman.

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