ID – SALGA ILLITERACY STUDY ON COUNCILLORS LONG OVERDUE
27 AUGUST 2008-'100% of ID councillors are literate,' says Jenner
'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
