Pow-wow with junior council on budget process
PLETTENBERG BAY - The Western Cape Cape Children's Commission held a successful two-day workshop with the Bitou junior town council in Plettenberg Bay at the weekend with Bitou Municipal Manager Mbulelo Memani explaining the municipal budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) to them.
Provincial Children's Commissioner Christina Nomdo said the workshop was a pilot programme forming part of the commission's local government budget training initiative. The aim of the workshop was to teach children how to influence the local government budget process and how to include items reflecting children's interest the IDP.
"It provides key information for children to prioritise development in their communities," she said. Nomdo said the workshop reflected child leadership in communities and involving them in real decisionmaking. "Real decision-making power is rare and many examples of this kind are tokenism," she said, adding that the training is essential for budget advocacy for child rights.
Solakha Noyi, the secretary of Bitou Junior Council, who attends Wittedrift High School and lives in Kwanokuthula, said the workshop was an eyeopener and the participants learned a lot from the process. She said the two items highlighted were waste collection and safe recreational parks for children. Noyi, a child government monitor for the commissioner, was instrumental in arranging the workshop.
Day one of the workshop was centred on children being rights defenders and they created posters that will be submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur, according to a statement issued by Bitou Municipality.
In the statement Memani said he was impressed that the children involved in the junior council showed such interest in the budgeting process. "The municipality should perhaps look at children as a separate stakeholder at the meetings so that their views can be heard."
Memani said the Constitution and the Municipal Systems Act provide for processes to ensure that children cannot be ignored. He implored the children to make written submissions on the IDP so that their views could find expression in the municipal budget. A result of the workshop is that the junior council is to make submissions on certain issues that infringe on children's rights to the senior town council in 2024.
"These issues include, but are not limited to, the lack of waste/refuse removal and the presence of unsafe parks," said a statement released by the commission.
"The primary objective of the WCCC is to empower children with the ability to read and comprehend their local municipal budgets. This will enable them to advocate for issues that take into account the interests, rights and needs of children."