Incoming Buffalo City Metro ward councillors will have some of their workload lifted when the metro hires 50 personal assistants for the councillors who take up office in August.
The move follows a long battle between the current councillors and the metro dating back to 2011.
Although PR councillors, who are part of the mayoral committee, have PAs, the 50 ward councillors on the ground said they were always told there was insufficient funding to hire assistants for them.
Council has now resolved to appoint ward secretaries, a move welcomed by councillors who said it would help to improve service delivery in their wards.
The PAs are expected to play an administrative role, helping ward councillors to be organised and respond quickly to communities’ needs.
The secretaries will be in addition to the ward committees in each ward and help overcome any political squabbles between councillors and the committees.
The new financial year will also see incoming ward committee members get a slight increase in their R1000 stipends when the directorate of financial services increases the budget from R6-million to R6.7-million.
Each member will now be paid R1120 a month.
Delighted Ward 9 councillor Ntombizandle Mhlola, who has been advocating for the move, said it was long overdue.
“It was resolved that in the next financial year ward councillors should get the PAs.
“We have been requesting assistants since 2011 and we always received the same response that there was no money for the appointments.
“But now we are very happy that finally we will get PAs,” she said.
“Ward councillors are full-time employees and we are required to do municipal and community work. That load has not been fair on us because it is too much.
“Since 2006 mayoral committee members have had PAs and it never made sense to us that ward councillors did not have as they are the ones who do more work as we are directly linked to the communities,” added Mhlola.
Councillors said the lack of assistants meant that residents left their offices without help and were often angry when they were sometimes in week-long workshops.
DA councillor Jan Smit said the opposition welcomed the move as the amount of work faced by ward councillors was “taxing”.
“We need to see implementation because we have heard promises of furniture for ward councillors since 2011 but until this day some have not received such,” Smit said, adding that if the right people were appointed, the move promised to be effective. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
Huge relief as BCM promises to hire PAs
The move follows a long battle between the current councillors and the metro dating back to 2011.
Although PR councillors, who are part of the mayoral committee, have PAs, the 50 ward councillors on the ground said they were always told there was insufficient funding to hire assistants for them.
Council has now resolved to appoint ward secretaries, a move welcomed by councillors who said it would help to improve service delivery in their wards.
The PAs are expected to play an administrative role, helping ward councillors to be organised and respond quickly to communities’ needs.
The secretaries will be in addition to the ward committees in each ward and help overcome any political squabbles between councillors and the committees.
The new financial year will also see incoming ward committee members get a slight increase in their R1000 stipends when the directorate of financial services increases the budget from R6-million to R6.7-million.
Each member will now be paid R1120 a month.
Delighted Ward 9 councillor Ntombizandle Mhlola, who has been advocating for the move, said it was long overdue.
“It was resolved that in the next financial year ward councillors should get the PAs.
“We have been requesting assistants since 2011 and we always received the same response that there was no money for the appointments.
“But now we are very happy that finally we will get PAs,” she said.
“Ward councillors are full-time employees and we are required to do municipal and community work. That load has not been fair on us because it is too much.
“Since 2006 mayoral committee members have had PAs and it never made sense to us that ward councillors did not have as they are the ones who do more work as we are directly linked to the communities,” added Mhlola.
Councillors said the lack of assistants meant that residents left their offices without help and were often angry when they were sometimes in week-long workshops.
DA councillor Jan Smit said the opposition welcomed the move as the amount of work faced by ward councillors was “taxing”.
“We need to see implementation because we have heard promises of furniture for ward councillors since 2011 but until this day some have not received such,” Smit said, adding that if the right people were appointed, the move promised to be effective. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
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