Hoon clarifies misconceptions

Ward 97 Councillor Jacques Hoon has faced a lot of backlash from the local community in recent years. He has frequently been accused of not being active enough within the community, or particularly responsive to issues within the ward.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Hoon. “I think the fact that I refrain from engaging in the sort of politics that sees me posing for the local newspaper at every pothole, water leak, or unmaintained open area has contributed to this inaccurate perception,” he says.

“The fact is, that up to around 10 years ago, such antics worked well. The ward councillors were shown to be active, and local newspaper articles had the intended effect, spurring the different entities into action, and things would get done. Unfortunately, this approach does not work anymore. I find doing that is largely detrimental, as it creates the perception that the different entities don’t want to deliver services to local communities. This is simply not true.”

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Hoon says that in previous years, entities already struggling with shrinking budgets, would, in instances when pressurised with negative media and public perception, quickly make a plan to address such issues. Unfortunately, their budgetary constraints have become such that they are no longer able to do this.

“This means that even if I were to make them look bad in the media and the eyes of the community, there is nothing they can do about certain issues. All this accomplishes is that they may develop a hostile attitude toward me and be less inclined to help me when a real problem that requires urgent intervention does occur.

“Politics aside, the job of the ward councillor is not to place undue pressure on the entities. It is to be an effective link between the entities and communities, to help direct the attention of the entities to problems within the ward, and to help push through necessary interventions.

“It is a bit of a balancing act,” he says. “I understand that the potholes in your street are a problem for you, but unfortunately I have to direct interventions to where they will be most impactful.”

He uses the analogy of stat, a medical term. “When doctors send bloodwork to the lab and mark it ‘stat’, the technicians in the laboratory know that it is urgent. If all the doctors mark their lab work ‘stat’, then, in reality, nothing is ‘stat’.

“I have the – often unpleasant – task of determining what is most urgent. I cannot direct the entities to fix a broken street light or two that affects 20 people if there was a cable theft incident that has left 2 000 people in the dark.”

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Hoon adds that this work is more often done in than outside of the public eye.

“I have worked extremely hard to build and maintain good relations with officials from the various entities. This means that, when an incident occurs, I can pick up the phone and call the relevant person, and chances are, they will take my call, and attempt, within reason, to render the assistance that we need.”

The councillor concedes that his way of getting things done in the ward may not be ideal for optics, but says that optics does not get the job done.

“I understand that people want to see the local councillor loudly beating the drum for his ward, and I do this. I have, however, found what I believe to be the most effective way of doing my job, and that is putting in the hard yards behind the scenes where I can effectively motivate for the most pressing issues within my ward to be addressed.”

He adds that it is important for residents to follow the correct procedure when it comes to reporting issues.

“I cannot be your first point of call,” he says. “There are procedures that need to be followed. I can only take over once residents have completed the relevant processes of reporting, and gotten reference numbers.”