Ward 102 councillor details reporting systems at Ferndale meeting
Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete used a community meeting in Ferndale to explain how residents should report service delivery issues and get involved in ward committees.
Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete hosted a community meeting at the Ferndale Recreation Centre on September 2, walking residents through how the ward’s reporting systems work and fielding questions about vacant committee seats.
Campbell-Cloete opened by explaining the limits of a councillor’s role. “We’re policy makers. We go to council and we represent you in council,” she said, stressing that councillors cannot instruct municipal entities or their staff directly. “We are not allowed to instruct any of the city officials, the directors, the staff. That’s regarded as against the code of conduct of councillors.”
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Escalating logged issues, she said, now takes up most of her working week. “I can tell you now, 80% of councillors’ time at the moment is spent on service delivery issues. That’s the reality.”
She asked residents to stop emailing her directly. “I get over 200 emails a day,” she said, explaining that she works from home without an office. For service delivery problems, she asked residents to log a call first through an app, rather than going straight to her.
She recommended the City of Johannesburg (COJ) CSD app in particular. “That’s what I use because I know that is the app that is run by CoJ. You get feedback quicker.”
Once residents have a reference number, she said, that is when to send it to her on WhatsApp so she can escalate it directly with the relevant depot. She explained that logged calls only carry full details, including the resident’s name, number and address, once they reach the depot, which is why she needs that information forwarded to her separately.
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To keep residents informed, Campbell-Cloete runs broadcast WhatsApp groups covering the ward’s 78 areas across 18 suburbs, posting updates on outages and activities herself. She also holds a weekly Ward Service Delivery Forum every Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00, where residents can ask questions and receive answers directly.
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