by Nontando Guwa

The post-apartheid system of government in South Africa ushered in decentralisation of power, introducing three spheres of government: national, provincial and local.

The subsequent new Constitution enshrined the right of citizens to participate in government. In local government, the general public or communities are represented by ward councillors, who are directly elected by the people to represent and serve their various constituencies.

Part of the duties of ward councillors is to make sure that the interests of the people in the ward are met. They act as the direct link between their constituencies and council. This includes holding municipal officials accountable, reading and analysing various reports tabled by municipal officials in council meetings, debating the budgets, and other matters requiring council approval.

In the election of ward councillors, however, no stipulation is made regarding the literacy levels of the individuals to be elected. This is partly due to the history of South Africa, during which many black people were denied quality education.

Many blacks were forced into menial positions on mines, farms and in emerging industries in order to provide for their families. At that time, education was a privilege and not a right – a privilege most people could not afford.

Democracy came with equal opportunities for all – regardless of literacy levels. Understandably, when electing ward councillors, communities look for an individual who can better understand their issues, lead and represent them in municipal councils. However, there are concerns as to how well represented the people are when many elected representatives do not understand most of the documents tabled in councils due to literacy challenges.

Recent interviews held with municipal managers from various small category C municipalities revealed that most of these councils have to contend with semi-literate ward councillors. As a direct consequence of serious capacity deficiencies among a section of councillors, municipal officials tend to have more power over the politicians and to some extent can easily manipulate council.

Under such circumstances, it becomes easy for unscrupulous council officials to do the bare minimum, do it badly and get away with it. They would fulfil their legal obligation of remaining “accountable” to their respective councils by means of frequent reporting, but such reports would only reflect issues of their choice. In essence, they would be setting the tone and direction of the council debates because the councillors lack the capacity to engage constructively and critically with the reports that end up being tabled.

In one local municipality, where only four out of 36 councillors had a matric level of education, the municipal budget speech that was delivered by the mayor was written in English, a language that only four of the councillors could fully understand. This meant that only these four councillors could fully engage in and debate the contents of the speech.

Some parts of the speech were highlighted in the local language, as the mayor felt these especially important for the councillors to understand. It was not surprising then to see how most of the debate around the budget speech was centred on these portions of the speech. In such cases, it is obvious that people’s representation is simply a mirage.

We are not suggesting that illiterate individuals should not be allowed to vie for elections as ward councillors. It is, however, crucial that under such circumstances, purposeful capacity building programmes be put into place to support these individuals. Local municipalities should make a budget available to not only conduct short induction programmes on the duties of councillors with material written in languages that the councillors battle to understand, but should do a meaningful exercise of auditing the skills of ward councillors and commission capacity-building programmes aimed at meeting those capacity gaps.

Council is meant to debate, discuss and finally make decisions that will impact on entire local municipalities. It is therefore essential to capacitate those individuals responsible for decision making so that in the end they are able to make informed and well-thought-out decisions.

It is likely that this intervention would translate into better community representation, good governance and the sustenance of the ethos of our democracy.

Local Government Transformer Apr/May 2008