Community engagement has become intrinsic to our Local Government Unit, with its members regularly participating in numerous public events almost every week.. The small, yet energetic team, has rapidly built the core engagement brands of CAN, JoburgCAN and WaterCAN.  

“The team participates in various events ranging from protests outside city council meetings to commenting on budgets and various development plans out for public comment. They are infusing a mixture of pragmatic decision making with civil activism to help seek outcomes that are beneficial to the public,” says Julius Kleynhans, the unit’s executive manager.  

One of the leading brands in particularly grassroot campaigning, has been WaterCAN led by Dr Ferrial Adam. 

The WaterCAN team has subsequently grown to include two new regional coordinators: Faeza Meyer (Western Cape) and Azile Mpukwana (KwaZulu-Natal). 

“We are excited to have both Faeza and Azile as part of our WaterCAN team. They are both strong, resolute, and focused individuals who have a history in organising and managing complex teams in the citizen science environment,” Adam says.

The KwaZulu-Natal team also held its second KZN WaterCAN Gathering Event on 17 April in Umdloti, Durban. 

“A commitment was reached at the gathering that a civil society led KZN Water Forum should be formed to help tackle the growing water issues in the province,” Adam explains. 

Meanwhile, JoburgCAN – with a focus only on the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) – has been on a tour of events in recent weeks, leading to increased interest in the unique product that aims to empower city residents in holding the metropolitan council to account. JoburgCAN provided a detailed submission to the CoJ’s proposed 2024-25 draft budget. (See here).

JoburgCAN project manager Julia Fish says a purpose-built website was created to help and empower CoJ residents’ to send comments via the website directly to city officials.

Jonathan Erasmus, CAN project manager, says the CAN and JoburgCAN brands have been further amplified through a series of successful webinars.  CAN focuses on empowering community structures across the country through outreach events and resource creation. 

“Our workshop on what you should know about the municipal budget process was well received. Excellent speakers such as former Tshwane Metro finance head and published author on municipal budgets, Mare-Lise Fourie, gave unique and highly valuable insights into the topic. Our discussion on the complex subject of land occupation and land invasion was hugely insightful and is a must watch by any community grappling with this issue on their doorstep,” says Erasmus. 

Erasmus, who is based in Durban, submitted an objection to the eThekwini Municipality 2024-25 draft budget. The budget’s controversial tariff hikes have subsequently been reduced due to large public pressure. “This is what public engagement is about. You may not get what you seek out to achieve but public pressure and community activism does work. We are witnessing a societal shift where communities are taking an active role in our democracy,” he says.

Interested in what our Local Government Unit is doing? Have a look here: 

WaterCAN focuses on water matters, Community Action Network (CAN) aims to empower local communities to participate in municipal matters and JoburgCAN exists to organise and empower a network of community associations and businesses to ensure the responsible collection and use of rates and tax revenues, along with good service delivery by the City. The Link App gives users an easy, effective way to communicate directly with their municipality about any problems or service issues within their community.