'100% of ID councillors are literate,' says Jenner
 
MP Sakkie Jenner, the ID spokesperson on local government, says the study by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) that has revealed that more than 30% of councillors across the country are illiterate 'is long overdue and demands urgent councillor training programmes.'
 
The study revealed that only half of councillors have completed matric, most do not understand proceedings that are conducted in English, instead of their mother tongue, 2 out of 10 can read financial statements and many local government officials deployed by their political parties have similar problems.
 
'These findings are not surprising to the Independent Democrats,' Mr Jenner says.
 
'However, it is shocking that Salga, which has a constitutional mandate to empower its representatives, has only now, during the third term for councillors since Freedom, conducted such a study.
 
'Salga must invest more of its resources in training councillors and the ID suggests that they conduct an audit of every single councillor in the country to assess their capabilities,' says Jenner.
 
'This would give us a clear indication of where training is needed. The ID is proud to announce that 100% of its councillors are fully literate and that we conduct regular performance checks.
 
'The ID would like to encourage other political parties to implement similar developmental processes as we believe this will impact positively on service delivery,' Jenner says.

'We would like to eventually see a situation where interpretation facilities are made available in all councils and where councillors are empowered through the use of their mother tongue.'
 
For media enquiries, please call Steven Otter, ID Media Officer, on 084 233 3811