Contacting Makana

From Page 9

problems and have ambitious targets to resolve these problems by the end of March 2017.

The CFO offered to produce a document to help everyone to navigate the system. I am holding thumbs that the promising words become reality. Not only will it be a major win for the battle to straighten out municipal finances, but it will also be a significant step towards establishing confidence that Makana is listening and responding.

To help you, GRA have placed all the contact details of finance officers on our website, so that you can make direct contact with the relevant person. See: http:// grahamstownresidentsassociation.co.za/?page_id=205 Are you being ignored? ‘Back to Basics’ B2B was launched in 2014 to deal with ailing municipalities, setting the minimum standards for municipalities to be considered functional. Section 3.3.3. tells us that: ‘Ward Councillors must meet and report back to their constituencies at least quarterly.’

Makana Municipality adopted Back to Basics over two years ago, but it is not obvious that many ward councillors are doing their bit.

The feedback from these meetings and ward committees should be fed back to the Speaker’s office so that public concerns are considered when it comes to forward planning. It also gives a platform for municipalities to communicate their plans to deal with backlogs and to monitor and act on complaints, petitions and other feedback.

In the B2B it states: ‘...it will need champions at every level of government, as well as in and amongst our communities and private sector’.

B2B talks to many of the problems and deficiencies present within Makana in terms of ‘Putting People First, Good Governance, Service Delivery, Sound Finance and Administration.’

It is a useful document that can be viewed at: http://www. cogta.gov.za/cgta_2016/wpcontent/ uploads/ 2016/ 06/ The- Presidential- Local- Government-Summit.pdf

The full list of councillors and their contact details is on our website: http:// grahamstownresidentsassociation. co. za/ wpcontent/ uploads/ 2016/ 04/ MakanaMunicipalCouncilContacts2016-11-18.pdf