Ward 48 of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Cllr Franay van der Linde abruptly chose to show her constituents that she is not willing to engage openly and transparently. 

Many service delivery issues were raised but very little action is seen by residents within Ward 48. Meanwhile our neighbouring Wards 49 and 51 have Cllrs who openly engage and are hands on daily with its residents. 

We have relied on these Wards to provide us with updates on water and electricity disruptions and just general communication of service delivery related issues. All we get from our Cllr is either “it’s been reported” or “there’s no budget”.  We don’t recall been invited to public meetings where feedback can be provided on open issues and when we complain, we get removed from a WhatsApp group which the Cllr started to engage with us. 

Enough is enough, we are not happy with our current Councillor and want someone who is willing to work for their constituents, as the Cllr been a DA representative, the slogan”Getting things done” couldn’t be further from the truth!  

What is the role of Ward Councillors?

Ward councillors are a critical cog in local government. They are accountable to their ward and to the municipal council. Councillors are meant to live in the areas that they serve in order to ensure that there is genuine understanding of the needs of the ward.

Ward councillors are a representative conduit between the communities they represent and the municipal council, reporting back regularly through ward meetings and assisting the community in identifying needs and priority areas of development which feed into the municipality's planning processes.

Councillor van der Linde does not embody the above attributes/qualities and having been a Councillor before clearly lacks the “hands on” approach.