Municipal councillors were warned to do their job properly and deal with complaints from residents or face dismissal.
Speaking to unhappy township residents in Grahamstown yesterday, co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa said performance management systems were now in place to remove councillors who were not delivering on their mandate.
He told residents that “war rooms” were being established in all 705 municipal wards across the country to ensure problems on the ground were reported to the right people in municipal, provincial and national government so they can be properly dealt with.
Xasa and a delegation of top local and regional municipal officials visited informal houses in Tantyi before holding a lengthy meeting at BB Zondani Hall where residents complained about a lack of basic service delivery by the Makana Municipality.
Problems included slow housing delivery, eradicating the bucket toilet system, poor infrastructure and a lack of job opportunities.
Several residents also claimed they did not have title deeds for their houses and experiencing long waits to get proper homes.
During the meeting, Xasa said the war rooms would be a place that would connect councillors and residents on a regular basis so they could discuss community issues and then ensure they were taken up with the relevant municipal or provincial department collectively.
Xasa urged all municipalities and councillors to “put people first” and listen to their problems and try to work together to resolve them.
Makana mayor Nomhle Gaga said that 12 wards in the municipal district were ready to launch war rooms after the municipal elections.
Gaga said the war rooms would improve communication as problems could be raised monthly at meetings and then taken up with the relevant authority. — davidm@dispatch.co.za
‘War rooms’ to bring councillors closer to public
Speaking to unhappy township residents in Grahamstown yesterday, co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Fikile Xasa said performance management systems were now in place to remove councillors who were not delivering on their mandate.
He told residents that “war rooms” were being established in all 705 municipal wards across the country to ensure problems on the ground were reported to the right people in municipal, provincial and national government so they can be properly dealt with.
Xasa and a delegation of top local and regional municipal officials visited informal houses in Tantyi before holding a lengthy meeting at BB Zondani Hall where residents complained about a lack of basic service delivery by the Makana Municipality.
Problems included slow housing delivery, eradicating the bucket toilet system, poor infrastructure and a lack of job opportunities.
Several residents also claimed they did not have title deeds for their houses and experiencing long waits to get proper homes.
During the meeting, Xasa said the war rooms would be a place that would connect councillors and residents on a regular basis so they could discuss community issues and then ensure they were taken up with the relevant municipal or provincial department collectively.
Xasa urged all municipalities and councillors to “put people first” and listen to their problems and try to work together to resolve them.
Makana mayor Nomhle Gaga said that 12 wards in the municipal district were ready to launch war rooms after the municipal elections.
Gaga said the war rooms would improve communication as problems could be raised monthly at meetings and then taken up with the relevant authority. — davidm@dispatch.co.za
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