Poms have similar issues

It is not only Jeffreys Bay folk who often wonder what local town councillors do to earn the substantial salaries they are paid by local ratepayers.

 

In 2007, Dame Jane Roberts, the chairman of Britain’s Councillors Commission, spoke at a conference in England about the role councillors need to play in a healthy, vibrant local democracy. Click here to access an edited version of her speech.

Dame Jane started her address by pointing out what right-thinking Jeffreys Bay residents readily identify with: “I am a true believer in local government. I see a responsive and imaginative local government that can capture the respect of those that live and work in its patch.”

She continued with a few observations that are remarkably familiar to us in faraway Jeffreys Bay: “There is a lot of negativity towards councillors out there. Accusations of being ‘haughty’ and of losing their affinity for the communities that they represent, once elected, abound. There is [often] an enormous gulf between the views that councillors have of themselves and the perception of councillors by the general public.”

We do need to acknowledge though, that much of this may be unfair. We know that most of our councillors work incredibly hard and are deeply committed.

It was interesting to learn that only 5% of the English population claims to know a great deal about what their local council does; 27% a fair amount. So nearly 70% have little idea.

Then came the crunch. “Councillors,” she said, “simply do not pay sufficient attention to communicating with their constituents. Independent research showed that 20% did not consider informing residents to be a priority.”

The Courier – Die Koerier agrees with Dame Jane when she argued that “councillors have a basic task to help people feel able to influence what goes on in their locality. This may involve explaining to them how decisions came to be made and on what basis, but the way in which councillors communicate is absolutely key. They must recognise and embrace their role at the interface between representative and participative democracy.”

She concluded her address by quoting Professor Stephen Coleman who said,

“The challenge for democratic politicians is to be seen as ordinary enough to be representative, while extraordinary enough to be representatives.”

[The Courier – Die Kourier wishes to thank Japie Bosch for providing the link with Dame Jane’s speech. Bosch, a retired Johannesburg journalist who now lives in Jeffreys Bay, has clearly lost none of his ability to hunt down a good story.]