Community participation important to CoJ
Clr Mpho Parks Tau, the City of Johannesburg's (CoJ) executive mayor, recently highlighted the city’s commitment to improving its community participation processes.
During his recent State of the City address, he said, “The city is committed to enhancing participatory democracy through our community-based planning processes. A pilot programme for community-based planning was established in Region E and a number of projects are already in progress. This includes five food gardens in Alexandra, the refurbishment of the Helen Joseph Hostel and the building of a rubble transfer station in Linbro Park. This pilot programme has been extended to the other six regions,” he said.
The mayor said he is pleased the city has made progress in all aspects of its interaction with residents and clients over the past two years.
“Each year we strengthen our integrated development planning processes with high levels of community participation. We continue to have robust oversight committees such as the municipal public accounts where councillors hold the executive to account.
“We are improving on our mechanisms of redress, including the petition’s committee and a corruption hotline,” he said.
The city has also passed a by-law to create an office of an independent Ombudsman. This is to ensure that complaints reported by residents are followed through and that internal disciplinary steps are taken against officials who fail to deliver quality service.
“People must be encouraged to speak out against maladministration with the surety that their complaints will be taken seriously and in confidence,” said the mayor.
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