Ward councillors and committees must know their communities and the people they represent. They should know:

• Who the people are in the ward (spread of age groups, gender, employment status)
• What problems they experience and their needs
• What their attitudes and opinions are towards council plans and proposals
• The environment of the ward (types of housing, services provided or not provided, for example, water, sanitation and electricity, schools, hospitals, clinics, shops, markets, factories, places of worship, community halls, access to transport)
• What is happening in the community (what organisations or bodies exist in the community: political parties, cultural groups, civic forums, business, youth organisations, women’s organisations, NGOs, traditional leaders, gangs, crime, sport, school governing bodies, etc)

Ward councillors and committee members can find out more about their communities through general community meetings and direct consultation (going door-to-door and conducting a survey).

They should also keep up to date with developments in the council in order to pass this information on to people in their ward.

In the 2008 Local Government Laws Amendment Act, an amendment of Section 73 of Act 117 of 1998 (Municipal Structures Act) was made to ensure that ‘out of pocket’ expenses (of ward committee members) must be paid from the budget of the municipality in question. Metro or local councils must develop a policy and determine criteria for calculating the ‘out of pocket’ expenses and can allocate funds and resources to enable ward committees to perform their functions, exercise their powers and undertake development in their wards within the framework of the law.