The City Johannesburg’s multiparty government is implementing the “7 to 11 Boots on the Ground” programme to develop a customer-centric value chain in the delivery of basic services. Cllr Ronald Harris, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Development, says the initiative will see the management team of Community Development facilities availing themselves to oversee customer queries each morning between 7 am and 11 a.m.
Cllr Harris says the initiative seeks to cover 135 wards across Johannesburg, with officials doing walkabouts at all public facilities while listening to and spending time with members of the community.
He says his department is committed to implementing the programme over the next six months and anticipates it will continue for the duration of the multi-party government’s office tenure.
“We are currently in the process of working out further logistics and aligning our diaries accordingly, but the programme is already in practice, and we are visiting different communities each day,” he says.
Cllr Harris says that ordinarily, councillors have their hands full with complaints and concerns from residents about the quality of service delivery at municipal recreational facilities. In the past, councillors have been unsuccessful in resolving community issues in their wards due to being inundated with meetings, thus indisposed to the communities they serve.
“During the designated hours, councillors and the management teams will be out of the office and on the ground to take note of what exactly is happening in the communities they serve. The programme is thus not only an effort to become accessible and available but an opportunity for the City to experience and assist in resolving the indignities communities are experiencing.
“It has now become an urgent mission for the management of these facilities and councillors to be accessible and responsive to the needs of the people of Johannesburg,” says MMC Harris.
The 7 to 11 Boots on the Ground programme has numerous spinoffs for Joburg communities, including saving the City money if officials act expeditiously to resolve reported service delivery shortfalls.
“The programme will save the City millions if we stop and fix broken facilities when they are reported and not allow them to degenerate further.”
MMC Harris says the initiative will also allow the Council and all entities to work together and hold each other accountable for the quality of services rendered in local communities. It will also show residents the City is attentive to their needs and acting on them in a timeous manner.
He adds that the initiative allows the municipality to assess how policies adopted by the Council impact local communities and whether they are effective or need to be re-examined.
“The 7 to 11 Boots on the Ground programme is a fresh start for local government to make an impactful difference. It supports the Executive Mayor Cllr Mpho Phalatse’s ‘getting the basics right’ and a ‘well-run city’ priorities.”
Ensuring the initiative is a success will not happen overnight.
“It would be good for other departments to adopt a similar approach to improving service delivery. This way we can tackle complaints and have an instantaneous insight towards what’s happening in the City of Johannesburg,” says Cllr Harris.
Written by Sascha-Lee Joseph
27/07/2022