Improve residents participation in projects to stop protests – Tsotetsi
ALEXANDRA - A call has been made for increased residents’ participation in planning, implementing and monitoring development projects in order to stamp out service delivery protests.
A call has been made for increased participation by Alex residents in planning, implementing and monitoring development projects in the township which would help stem service delivery protests.
The call was made by Godfrey Tsotetsi, ANC Member of the Provincial Legislature who has been deployed to the Greater Alexandra constituency. Still acquainting himself with the social and economic challenges of Alex, Tsotetsi said constitutional democracy thrived where there was a high level of participation by the community. This made people feel they owned the initiatives and would feel obliged to protect the development projects and programmes.
“This will also help them to understand the related budgetary and capacity challenges that cause delays in service delivery, and they may cease to opt for street protests to register their concerns,” he speculated.
Tsotetsi said the Integrated Development Plans were to ensure community participation, but more needed to be done for the participation to improve and to be sustained. This he said should be led by ward councillors and ward committees through their monthly public meetings where they addressed and attended to residents’ concerns.
He added that participation also encouraged the transfer of skills to locals. This could lessen dependency on consultancy services, thus saving money which should be used for projects. He said the premier’s office was also setting up an office to support local and provincial departments to improve their capacity, and skills for community planning and engagement. “This will in turn assist locals to understand tendering processes, to use their oversight role to monitor and curb corruption, and to evaluate the quality of state-funded development projects.”
Tsotetsi urged leaders to remain in touch with residents, and to attend to problems rather than letting them compound. He urged residents to help avoid the accumulation of issues by reporting them to community development workers.
Tsotetsi committed to implementing a community outreach plan to enable him to liaise with stakeholders and residents, and encouraged leaders to convene regular workshops for residents on development issues.
“This will assist the leaders to attend to residents’ concerns more proactively.”
