Eldos residents engage the Ombudsman
Community members raised a complaint that the IEC only hires people who already have jobs when it’s election time.
The Office of the Ombudsman in the City of Johannesburg hosted a citizenship information clinic for Eldorado Park residents at the Don Mateman Hall on March 7.
The event was aimed at educating and informing the community about all resources available at their disposal and how they can utilise them.
It brought together organisations such as the Human Rights Commission of South Africa, Direct Marketing of South Africa, and the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
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Opening the meeting, Ward 17 Councillor, Dwain Ponsonby expressed the importance of community participation.
He further said, “Eldorado Park is always a marginalised community and to have these programmes brought to us is a dream come true. This is now our time to use these opportunities brought to us.”
One of the guest speakers, Mickey Padiachee who is the Regional Director for Region G gave a regional overview.
He said, “All I’m seeing in these wards and regions is growth in informal settlements and a lot of people are unemployed, especially the youth. This is now a challenge to be fixed and to fix it starts here with this meeting.”
Advocate Afika Nqeto spoke on behalf of the Human Rights Commission of South Africa and touched on a few issues the commission deals with like late registration of birth and human dignity.
“We educate and protect people with regards to issues of racism, equality, discrimination and more importantly those who are in marginalised communities because everyone has human rights the moment they are born in South Africa. One last thing is that our services are free.”
This was followed by a presentation by the IEC in response to issues and questions raised by residents.
Community members raised a complaint that the IEC only hires people who already have jobs when it’s election time.
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One of the IEC representatives, Samuel Motaung addressed this by saying, “That is not true because we have a programme that we call the Democratic Civic Education Facilitator that educates people on everything about voting and can everyone access jobs via the website”
Residents of Eldorado Park were given a chance to partake in a question-and-answer session. This is where they expressed their views, disappointments and expectations.
One of the residents, Lucky Campbell said, “I was disappointed in the speakers who came in for a short period and had to leave to attend other meetings. But I will gladly use the resources given to me.”
Lack of knowledge on who to contact when issues of service delivery arise within communities has led to a lot of unnecessary protests. These involve the burning of governmental institutions such as schools, clinics and closure of public roads. By organising such a meeting, the Office of the Ombudsman was making a contribution to solving these issues.
