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In theory, all Councillors in the City of Cape Town could sit every day to deliberate and vote on every decision that needs to be made, but this would not be a very efficient government, so Municipalities delegate specific powers to people and committees.

The City has adopted an Executive Mayoral system. This means that Council has chosen to delegate nearly all of its powers up to the Executive Mayor, members of Mayoral Committee and to the senior officials in the administration. But it is important to realise that executive authority to govern ultimately always lies with the full Council.

Councillors

As it stands, once our Councillors have delegated their powers, they do not have much authority to make decisions about the wards they represent.

At the Council meeting every month they effectively rubber stamp decisions and policies that have already been made. While some of these are administrative and have little consequence, others have very serious consequences for everyone living in the city.

And so the best that Councillors can do is try to recommend, advise or influence the decision makers or act as a switchboard forwarding requests for information and complaints to the right department.

In truth, a Councillor is no longer a representative of the people in Council. They have become a ward liaison or ambassador sent to the people to represent the views of the City, sell or de- fend decisions that have already been made by their political superiors or the administration.

You may end up meeting with the Councilor or a Mayoral Committee member if there is frustration or crisis that needs to be resolved but there is no meaningful way for community members to engage in local decision making on a regular basis. What passes for participation is managed by a small team of officials in the administration and is limited to ad hoc public meetings, information sessions and a few opportunities to object or comment in writing.

Ward committees

Ward committees were intended to play a large role in this regard but membership is not even open to residents but reserved for representatives who are nominated by registered organisations. The Councillor gets to choose which sectors are represented with approval from the Sub-Council and elections are only held if there are more than one nomination. Only representatives from organisations can vote in these elections.

While some organisations may have community mandates and constituencies, this is not guaranteed or required. There is clearly a lack of opportunity for democratic participation in the election of the ward committee as residents cannot vote for who should represent them. In fact, you don’t have to live in the ward to sit on the ward committee.

The City of Cape Town does not delegate any decision making powers to ward committees. They are required to meet a few times a year and are meant to play an advisory role for the Councillor and support the City with public participation but their views are rarely taken into consideration. No wonder Ward Committees are mostly dysfunctional and rarely meet or have any impact in the ward.

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If we are going to take back control from politicians and political parties in our communities then over the long term we must ensure that Council delegates decision making powers down as close as possible to the people who are affected.

We may not be able to change how decisions are made in Council straight away, but we can elect an ordinary resident from a community platform to change the decision making culture in our own ward right now. We need a culture where our Councilors debate and formulate policy in full view of the public, making decisions through deliberation, consensus and holding meaningful votes.

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Ward assemblies can be informative and educational, they can be informal discussions or they can be formal meetings where mechanisms are put in place to ensure that decisions taken are binding.

Assemblies can be held in person or they can be held online – there are many platforms available which encourage participation and joint decision making. We do not need the permission of Council to establish mechanisms for collective decision making in our ward. We can simply do this together with our Councillor and representatives from all voting districts so that everyone’s voice is included.

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Ward Agreement 

As soon as we elect a resident to be Ward Councillor and our new Ward Committee we must ensure that we come together in an assembly to deliberate on a Ward Agreement and Code of Conduct for our Councillor. Our Councillor is not accountable to a political party.e or she is only accountable to residents in the ward so we need an agreement which will make it clear what our shared values are; what work we expect our Councillor to do; how we expect our Councillor to communicate; how we will participate in decisions and how our Councillor will report back and be accountable to the communities in the Ward.

State of the Ward Address

Once a year the President is required to give a state of the nation address or SONA in which he or she outlines the achievements of the government and presents a political programme for the year ahead. What happens in our ward is just as important and we should give it the same attention but we can do it a bit differently – let’s work collaboratively on a state of the ward address or SOWA.

Instead of the SOWA being attended by politicians, dignitaries and celebrities, let’s make sure that it is open to everyone living in the ward. Let’s listen to a summary of everything that has been achieved together with our elected Councillor both in the ward and in Council on behalf of the ward. Instead of listening to the Councillor make promises for the year ahead, let’s work collaboratively on a programme of action, review our structures, reaffirm our ways of working and reconsider our ward agreement with the Councillor.

Ward Mandates

At regular assemblies held in the ward, our Councillor should present any by-laws or policies that Council is planning to adopt, any maintenance, initiatives or projects that the administration is planning, and any issues that will be debated. He or she should listen to what the needs are in the Ward and after deliberation seek a formal mandate from the Ward on the positions they will take and the votes they will make in the administration, commit- tees and Council meetings.

These ward mandates should be seen as binding and we should hear back from our Councillor regularly on how they have tried to implement ward mandates. Being accountable means that they explain what they have done, what could be achieved and what could not be achieved with reasons both in Ward Assemblies and in any newsletter, online participatory platforms or social media posts so that everyone is informed.

Recalling a Councillor

If we feel that our Councillor is not honouring the Ward Agreement or being accountable to the Ward then we must have the right to choose a different Councillor.

If the Councillor was elected as part of a ward platform that registered as a party, then the platform has the right to recall the Councillor and should have a fair mechanism in place that has been developed.

If the ward platform was formed to elect a Councillor as an independent then the criteria and mechanism must be clearly articulated in the Ward Agreement, a form of social contract.

Either way, when a Ward Councillor no longer has the confidence of the Ward and is recalled or resigns this would trigger a by-election in which political parties could contest.

There will always be people who are unhappy with the performance of a Councillor in the ward – it is hard to please everyone. There will always be political parties and formations who wish to secure power for themselves and their agenda. So we cannot be naive in putting forward a mechanism to recall a Councillor – but it is a necessary mechanism to ensure ultimate authority lies with residents and accountability can be enforced through local democracy. The mechanism should therefore be available but should not be able to be so easily triggered otherwise a duly elected Councillor will spend most of their term defending themselves against motions to recall them.

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Committee Elections

Anybody living in the ward should be able to serve on a Ward Committee not only people employed or representing registered organisations. The Ward Committee should be directly elected by residents living in the ward rather than by registered organisations.

Ward Committee members should be elected on a geographical basis to ensure that all communities in the ward are represented. Each voting district could elect at least one ward committee member. This would mean that every resident living in a ward would have one person that represents their interests in the lowest structure of Council.

Public meetings

The Councillor and Ward committee should meet regularly in public to make decisions and the meeting should be open for anybody living in the ward to attend and observe. Where decisions require deliberation and mandates then these can be obtained through ward assemblies and other forms of participation as required. Ward Committees should be supported by a clerk from the administration who may assist with formal rules and minutes etc.

Community Organising and Public Participation

Ward committee members should help organise the ward, communicate upcoming meetings and facilitate public participation in their districts wherever the views of residents are required. They should update residents in district meetings, online and in newsletters on decisions that have been made in Ward Committee meetings and ward assemblies. Ward Committee members should contribute time on a voluntary basis but should be fairly compensated for transport and other costs they have incurred to do the work. They should also be provided with resources such as access to printing and stationery at Ward and District Community Centres.

Ward budget

Our aim is to ensure that the state supports the resources that already exist in communities. We need to focus on harnessing the resources and agency of communities and reforming how the state supports and empowers this. However, we must complement this with resources from the City.

Every year the City allocates a small amount for each Councillor to spend on projects in their ward – normally around R800,000. These are the only funds that are ring-fenced for the ward over which the Councillor has any decision-making power.. While res- idents give input, it is up to the Councillor and the ward committee to submit a list of projects for the Subcouncil and City Council to approve.

Right now, we can demonstrate how residents can come together to deliberate and make decisions collectively on what to spend the Ward Allocation on. We can crowdsource ideas in meetings and online, help to sort them into viable projects and ensure that they are fairly distributed; and allow residents to vote on these ideas – giving the Ward Councillor and Ward Committee a firm mandate for which projects to take to Council for approval.

In time, we must secure greater control over the budget and ensure a larger share of the capital expenditure is delegated to the Ward Committee to decide.

Social auditing

It is equally important to ensure that money that has been allocated to the Ward is spent effectively.

The Councillor and Ward Committee may make a decision that a service is required but should never make decisions about which service providers secures a tender or contract. Rather, the Ward Committee can help to lead social audits of the services, projects and programmes that are run in the Ward.

A social audit is a community-led process where residents collectively review verifying government (or private company) documents such as reports, plans, documents and contracts by comparing them with the realities on the ground and the experiences of the community. It is a way to decide if the outcomes reported by the government reflect the public money spent and the services received by the community.

> Read more about social audits here.

Ward Committees should be delegated decision making powers

Councillors and Ward Committees, chaired by the Councillor, should be delegated formal decision making powers for local issues at the ward level informed by Ward Assemblies and other local structures like CPFs and Civic Organisations. If empowered, Ward Committees powers could include:

• Local traffic management measures and placement and safety of transport infrastructure like bus stations and taxi stops.
• Priorities in terms of cycling and walking infrastructure.
• Community empowering Ward waste recycling schemes and management and the placements of depots.
• Local integrated safety plans including priority and placement of street lighting and the integration of community based interventions with other stakeholders such as SAPS, Gender Based Violence support services, neighbourhood watch and CPF structures.
• Local economic interventions such as community run Wifi schemes in public places and across communities as well as the operation of informal markets, stalls and trading.
• Allocations of public land to residents as allotments for urban food gardens or other public use.
• Identification of spaces and co-ordination of community education initiatives such as night classes, apprenticeship programmes and skills exchanges.
• Management of local advice offices and social support services for youth and the elderly.
• Use of public streets and facilities for cultural programmes, concerts, dance, art exhibitions and music concerts.

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As we push to take charge and reclaim local democracy, we must be mindful that our City is divided spatially. We must be mindful that some might wish to take more local control in order to put forward ideas that are unconstitutional, racist and exclusionary, or short sighted. We cannot build a socially just, economically equitable and environmentally sustainable city and society if each ward only looks after its own interests. Some decisions require us to come together across wards to ensure that we decide how to spend City resources in a fair and equitable way that helps to transform the city as a whole. So some decisions, such as where to deploy law enforcement or where to build affordable housing must be made at higher levels.

The reality is, that if a majority of wards established Ward Platforms and elected local residents as Councillors, we would be able to ensure these higher structures are alive with democratic debate, deliberate and ultimately negotiation and compromise and our Councillors would be required to work in coalitions to ensure that fair and equitable decisions are made that benefit their constituencies and the majority of people.

Subcouncil

Subcouncils should be one of the most important governance structures in the City. These should bring together Councillors from all the Wards to make decisions on issues that are particular to the region. The issues require cooperation to resolve and should be informed by decisions that have been made in Ward Committees and mandates that have been adopted in Ward Assemblies. If Subcouncils are empowered, this could include:

• A defining role in deciding what capital projects to prioritise in the City’s annual budget in the area of its jurisdiction.
• The redistribution, disposal, management and use of public land not allocated for citywide transformation projects, including granting tenure security to informal settlement residents, leasing for community use.
• Where budget has been allocated towards advancing the right to housing, decisions regarding the specific programmes and locations for investment that would distribute housing opportunities fairly across the Wards and benefit the most people.
• Management of regional support services such as mental health and trauma, support for survivors of rape and gender based violence, homelessness.
• The provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity.
• Regional safety and law enforcement.

Committees of Council

Councillors sitting in the Committees of Council should be responsible for the development and adoption of policy and by- laws to be put before Council. Committees should be responsible for holding Mayoral Committee members and the relevant line departments within the Administration to account for their performance.

Council

Too many decisions that are taken in Party Caucuses behind closed doors are rubber stamped in Council. Full Council should meet more regularly to debate policy and the decision before it before voting. Councillors must report back to Ward Assemblies on the decisions and votes that they took and how they aligned with mandates that were given. 

Administration

Many public officials working in the administration take a very poor view of Councillors. They see them as self-serving, corrupt and interfering in the work of the administration. There are powerful officials who would see any attempt at giving Coun- cillors more decision making powers as a problem and decisions should be handed over to technocrats and professionals within the administration.

There is an orthodoxy that has become entrenched in public administration which holds that once Councillors delegate their power to the Executive Mayor, Mayoral Committee and senior officials in the administration, then they should relinquish all at- tempts to influence those decisions. The orthodoxy holds that the only opportunity Council should be given to steer the vision and administration of the City rests in the development and adoption of the 5 year integrated development plan which all new Councils must pass once elected and the annual adoption of the budget. This idea stems from the belief that Council is sim- ply implementing this plan. Councillors should not be giving any instructions directly to officials. Effectively the only way to ad- dress issues in your ward is to gain the attention of the Executive Mayor who must instruct the City Manager who would in turn instruct the relevant line departments and staff.

As it stands, Councillors have almost no decision making powers and so the system requires them to use whatever influence they can summon to influence decisions both within the political realm and the administration. Councillors are constantly trying to upend the order of things so that they can serve their constituents and this is seen as a problem rather than them doing their work.

This results in unelected and obscure officials that are hidden from public scrutiny within the administration being gifted an overwhelming amount of decision making power. The idea that technocrats make more equitable and rational decisions is simply not true – any bureaucracy tends to want to maintain its pow- er and influence. The reality is that the people who make the most influential decisions about our wards are not accountable to the public in any way. Like everyone, officials have their own class and race prejudices.

The solution does not lie in less power for Councillors. It lies in greater local democracy and decision making power for Councillors. We cannot hope that they will always make good decisions or will not act corruptly. But we can ensure that these decisions are taken in the public eye so that Councillors can be held ac- countable.

In turn, the administration should be reorganised in order to provide administrative support at Subcouncil and Ward level to help implement the decisions that have been made. Officials in the administration should simply administer, not decide – their power must be limited to:

• Providing competent and expert advice;
• The co-ordination and implementation of decisions that are taken;
• Procurement, tendering and performance tracking;
• The daily management and implementation of City services.