Cape Town - An online portal now makes information on ward councillor candidates running in this year’s local government elections, easier to obtain.
Despite the presence of councillor posters across various wards, not much information is known on running ward councillors across municipalities, whether in office or those who are contesting for the first time.
The My Candidate portal allows residents to simply put in their area, and within seconds a lengthy list of candidates will emerge, with party details and wards the candidates are contesting in.
Open Cities Lab founder and CEO Richard Gevers said: “It was born out of an interest in making an informed vote in the local elections and frustration at the lack of publicly available information on candidates, and difficulty in finding out who was running to represent you in your area.
“We put the app together very quickly as a collaborative effort from Open Cities Lab, OpenUp and Friends.”
Open Cities Lab is a non-partisan and non-profit organisation that aims to build inclusive cities and participatory democracy.
“Finally we hope this is one step in residents and organisations knowing their local representatives and making sure they engage them actively on governance issues over the next five years,” said Gevers.
To access the portal, visit mycandidate.opencitieslab.org
Meanwhile, a recent online survey by full-service market research agency, KLA showed that 21% of South African adults want to see the current party retain its leadership position in their ward/ region, while 44% are hoping that a different party will take over.
Over 1 000 people participated.
“Thirteen percent are hoping that an independent candidate will win, and 22% are hoping that a newly established party will succeed in taking over. These results signal definite opportunities for new parties and independents to rise to the top and show South Africans what they / their parties are capable of,” said KLA accounts manager, Tessa Baron.
Sixty-eight percent of the respondents indicated that they were going to vote, 21% said they were unsure and 11% said they would not be voting.
“While the desire for change is high, 34% of respondents say that they will be voting for the same party they have always voted for. Just over a third will be changing their vote and voting for a different party. And 20% have yet to decide who they will be voting for,” said Baron.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za