Ward system not working
Poor education hampers service delivery in BCM
THE critical role ward committees are meant to have in speeding up service delivery is not working in the Buffalo City Metro.
Part of the problem, according to a report adopted by BCM’s council recently, is that a skills audit found that more than half of ward committee members had no matric. The report, prepared by council speaker Alfred Mtsi, found that out of the 334 ward committee members assessed, only 36 had post-matric qualifications, 112 had matric and 186 did not have a matric.
“This is important given that the functionality, effectiveness, efficiency and performance of ward committees is constrained by limitations in their levels of education, skills and expertise,” Mtsi wrote. He told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the total number of ward committee members in the metro was supposed to be 500 at 10 per ward.
However, he said only 90% of ward committees were currently operational. This, he said, was due to deaths and resignations while no ward committee had been elected in ward 39 due to some community problems.
He wrote: “It can be gleaned or deduced from the statistical results or account that the level of meaningful engagement between the ward councillors, ward committees and the local populace is not at an ideal, or put differently, is at its weakest point.”
He said it had been hoped that the education profile of the remaining ward committee members in urban and semi-urban (areas) would reflect a higher education and skills level. Mtsi said the skills audit had been concluded and a report would be tabled in the next council meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
It was also reported that in the second quarter of the year only 68 ward meetings were held by 31 wards. “This statistic illustrates that some of the wards did not convene meetings as required in terms of the law and therefore did not comply and further posed a challenge of not fostering citizenry participation in the affairs of the wards,” Mtsi wrote.
Legally, he said, each month a ward committee meeting had to be convened under the stewardship of the ward councillor.
He said the weakness in the ward committees failed to create an enabling environment and sufficient basis to nurture, harness and sustain sound and healthy relations among stakeholders.
“There are basic skills required of ward committee members such as report writing, minute taking and the ability to read and write,” Mtsi said.
“We are providing skills development training, periodically working with Salga and the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs,” Mtsi said. —