A meeting to elect ward committees held at the Maphala Gulube Primary School in eMbalenhle on Thursday, January 20, nearly turned chaotic.
An argument erupted after seven people were nominated as candidates in the election to represent Ward 10 as its ward committee.
Some residents wanted certain candidates to be removed because they were allegedly involved in corruption, while youth want to also be represented.
Ward 10 councillor, Mr Lucky Ngwenya, explained to residents that he wanted equal representation between eMbalenhle and Charl Cilliers because it is part of Ward 10.
But residents were not satisfied with his explanation and said eMbalenhle Ward 10 is larger than Charl Cilliers.
“We have four huge blocks which is Ext 16, part of extensions 15, 17 and 20.
“This is unfair because previously, Charl Cilliers only had two ward committees while we were had seven,” said one of the residents.
But Mr Ngwenya said Charl Cilliers is growing faster and he claimed that in two years, it will be the size of eMbalenhle. That is why they decided that it must have five of the 10 ward committees.
The community then demanded that the nominations resume.
The process resumed and five ward committees were elected for Ward 10.
Ward 9’s committee election meeting collapsed because of Azania informal settlement residents who demanded to also elect their own ward committees.
Residents were told that the new date will be announced.
The terms of office of ward committees are aligned to that of municipal councils and the municipality must, as soon as possible after the results of the elections have been declared, arrange ward meetings for the interest groups in the ward to be identified and subsequently for the ward committees to be elected, according to the system applicable in each respective municipality.
Ward committees are made up of representatives of a particular ward.
They are made up of members who represent various interests within the ward.
Ward committees are chaired by the ward councillor.
They are meant to be an institutionalised channel of communication and interaction between communities and municipalities.
Ward committees give community members the chance to express their needs, their opinions on issues that affect their lives and to have them heard at the municipal level via the ward
councillor and they are advisory bodies created within the sphere of civil society to assist the ward councillor in carrying out his or her mandate in the most democratic manner possible.
