Ward Councillor Fazel Jaffer educates about the role of local ward councillors
What your councillor can and can't do for you.
Ward Councillor Fazel Jaffer shared important information to residents in hopes to educate them about what exactly a local ward councillor is able to do.
Jaffer shared the information on his Facebook page in order to answer questions asked by residents on a daily basis. Jaffer’s post stated that The City of Johannesburg employs a total of 135 ward councillors.
This effectively means that for each ward in the city, a representative is elected to the Council by the residents of the specific area.
The post further explains that a ward councillor is a bridge between the City Council and residents of the ward.
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“In other words, the councillor has a legislated duty to represent the community’s interests. We are here to serve the community. The councillor is to remain neutral at all times,” Jaffer stated in the post.
Below is the councillor’s Do’s and Don’ts according to Jaffer’s Facebook post:
Councillors need to report back to their communities at least once a quarter. Councillors should aim to use available communication channels to engage with their communities.
This could include, for example, email newsletters, social media pages, and a WhatsApp group dedicated to residents of the ward.
Confidential council information may not be shared with residents, but this does not prevent the distribution of information related to the City’s programmes and campaigns which is for wide dissemination.
Councillors are also responsible for monitoring the City’s performance, for example, through regular quarterly reports served at the Council.
Legitimately constituted residents associations are important community channels which councillors should always seek to liaise with. This helps to gauge the views of residents.
Your ward councillor should be available, but not necessarily always on call. Some councillors do have and are permitted by legislation to hold, alternative employment.
It may come as a surprise, but residents should know that their councillors may not, by law, instruct an official to take a particular action. In other words, your councillors do not have the legitimate right to order someone to fix a pothole on your street corner or, for example, instruct Joburg Water to attend to a burst pipe.
This is covered by legislation in the Municipal Systems Act.
Nevertheless, councillors are encouraged to build good relationships with officials of the City in their ward and region.
By working together, councillors can be the eyes and ears for residents on service delivery matters and, wherever possible, the local councillor should aim to escalate crucial challenges to officials, state-owned entities, members of the mayoral committee (MMC) and departments.
So although a councillor cannot be directly held accountable for service delivery, a good, professional relationship with officials will go a long way in supporting the community.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) keeps a full database of councillors. It is possible to find your ward councillor by visiting the ‘Who is my ward councillor’ section of the IEC’s website.
As much as ward councillors and political representatives are important, councillors rely on residents, to be part of their strategic system on the ground. In efforts to build a better, cleaner, and prosperous city, residents need to reach out to councillors.
Another way to play your part is to log issues using one of the following channels:
City Power: Citypower.mobi/download the CityPower app on your smartphone/0860JOBURG
Joburg Water: Customer@jwater.co.za/0860JOBURG
Joburg Roads Agency: hotline@jra.org.za/download the JRA Find and Fix app on your smartphone/0860JOBURG
Pikitup: 0860JOBURG/@cleanerjoburg (Twitter)
Please ensure that you obtain a reference after logging an issue, and share this with your councillor who may be able to escalate the matter.
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