The City of Tshwane will finally start the process for nominating ward committee members after the 2014 ruling by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria nullified ward committee elections which took place in 2012 under the former ANC municipal administration.
Chairperson of Section 79 election committee, Dana Wannenburg, said the nomination process was set to begin from April 9 until April 23.
He said residents and stakeholders were at liberty to propose names of people they wished to represent their interest in their respective wards.
In December 2022 former council Speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela promised that the process for nominating and electing ward committees would get under way in 2023, but that never materialised.
The nomination process is set to continue despite the recent statement by Wannenburg that the Electoral Commission of South Africa would not be in a position to oversee the imminent ward committees elections because it is preoccupied with preparations for May 29 general elections.
The City has been operating without ward committees since 2014 after the High Court, Pretoria nullified the 2012 elections.
The ruling stemmed from a legal challenge by the DA questioning the constitutionality of the committee elections on the grounds that they excluded the participation of public members.
The process for correcting the unconstitutionality of the by-law was set in motion some years back, but it was delayed on several occasions.
On March 30, 2017 the draft ward committees by-law was presented to council by the Office of the Speaker for approval after public participation processes.
In 2018, the municipality was on the verge of hosting the ward committees elections when the then council Speaker Katlego Mathebe was forced to call off the process after it was discovered that the amended by-law risked excluding other members of the public from participating in the ward committee elections.
The postponement of elections, which had already been advertised, was said to have cost the municipality at least R4 million.
Wannenburg said he was elated that the nomination phase will finally commence, adding that: “Nominations can be made by any registered voter within the ward, encouraging widespread involvement and diverse representation”.
Nomination forms can be accessed and submitted both online on the City website www.tshwane.gov.za or in-person at the municipal regional offices or drop-off centres in all seven regions.
Ward committees, consisting of a ward councillor and no more than 10 people from the ward, are expected to serve for a period of five years in promoting and enhancing community involvement in the affairs of the municipality.
Pretoria News