DA urges petitions committee to finalise backdated petitions by the end of term
by Cllr. Malcolm Maifala-Masebe DA Spokesperson: Public Participation and Petitions
Date: 23 August 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Media Statement
On Friday, the 20th of August 2020, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) requested the CoE Public Participation and Petitions Standing Committee (PPPSC) to urgently implore departments to address all outstanding petitions by the end of the current political term.
Noting that at each monthly PPPSC Meeting, the committee deals with approximately 200 petitions, majority of which cannot be closed because various departments have not provided sufficient responses. As the DA, we believe that urgent attention to these petitions is needed.
It was the DA who, during the PPPSC meeting proposed that the committee needs to prioritise on summoning poor-performing departments to a hearing. With petitions still dating as far back as 2017, the DA believes the committee needs to exert its powers and implore action from the various departments and their political heads in order to have service delivery issues finalised.
The DA has expressed, on numerous occasions, our dissatisfaction with the committee, as it is not doing enough to ensure the petitions by-law is adhered to. Through our representation in the petitions committee, we, as the DA, have frequently requested that more departments need to be summoned to hearings in order to address service delivery issues.
It is the view of the DA that new petitions submitted should be tabled with comments from affected departments. When that is done, more petitions are likely to be resolved or escalated much quicker than they currently are.
The DA also acknowledges that it is a lack of commitment and political will from the ANC-led Coalition* administration that departments are continuously dragging their feet when it comes to attending to residents’ issues. Equally so, it remains the responsibility of the PPPSC to summon non-performing departments.
The DA, therefore, calls on the Chairperson of the PPPSC, Ald. Nozipho Mabuza, to action committee resolutions by calling departments and their respective political heads to hearings.
Under a DA-led Ekurhuleni government, residents’ voices expressed through petitions will be heard and prioritised, to ensure better service delivery in the City.
It is time that residents of Ekurhuleni voted for Real Hope, and Real Change, Now!
#Time4Change
*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Cllr. Malcolm Maifala-Masebe
DA Ward 38 Councillor in Ekurhuleni
