MEDIA RELEASE: Say your say in 4 seconds
Johannesburg Metro Council
31 July 2007
MEDIA RELEASE
Say your say in 4 seconds
The allocation of speaking time to councillors has been a bone of
contention since September 2006. It appears to be aimed at
marginalising the voice of the minority parties in the Johannesburg
Metro Local Council. While we understand the concept of allocating
debating time, proportionality to the size of the party, we do not
believe that it is realistic. As far as minority parties are concerned,
whether they have one, two or three members, they should be allocated a
fair amount of time to engage into fruitful debates in Council.
As for the time allocated to the 2 ACDP Councillors in the Johannesburg
Metro, which is 8,28 seconds we feel it is really not practical to say
anything in so a short space of time.
We believe that a fixed time allocation of between 2-3 Minutes is reasonable in this regard.
The ACDP is committed to work together for better governance but if we
agree to this proposal, then we are saying that it is fine that our
mouths are shut. This for me is committing suicide.