BCM ward committee stipends pending

ALMOST a year after Buffalo City Metro tasked its council speaker, Alfred Mtsi, to find a funding model that will ensure better stipends for ward committee members, the process remains incomplete.

The Daily Dispatch reported in July last year that the council discussed a possible increase of the stipends from R1 120 to R2 500 per month. This would be in line with the R2 500 King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality pays its ward committee members.

It was also reported that Johannesburg, eThekwini and other municipalities generally paid their ward committee members R1 000. Cape Town paid its ward committee members R500.

At the time, the metro’s budget for the stipends was R6.7-million a year and the increase would have taken it to R15-million had it been approved.

BCM ward committee members earn slightly more than last year and currently take home R1 188.

Speaking on behalf of the 500 ward committee members in BCM, Thanduxolo Faku said they failed to understand why a local municipality like KSD paid better stipends to its ward committee members than a metro.

“We don’t know if the speaker forgot about the task because we have heard nothing about it since it was last discussed in council.

“The stipend is small and it negatively affects our work and the services we bring to the people,” he said.

Faku said sometimes it was difficult to get help from municipal offices over the phone, leading to them having to travel to the offices.

Another problem he raised was that the offices of ward councillors, which they used to make calls during the week, were closed on weekends.

“We would appreciate the R2 500 per month stipend that was discussed in council last year. We would also like to have cellphones and airtime allowances,” Faku said.

Mtsi said he knew the matter of the stipends was sensitive and that it had not been concluded by council.

He said a process of benchmarking was made with other municipalities.

“This matter goes beyond just the funds – it is also linked to the service rendered by an individual. We have national guidelines that deal with the payment of stipends to ward committees and we don’t want to operate outside those guidelines,” Mtsi said.

When asked what the new pay would be, Mtsi would only say the new funding model adopted by council would see an increase.

Mtsi said the finance department would determine the new amount to be paid. He did not know how long this process would take. —