In the lead-up to the election, the Umbrella Civic has committed to leading a process of developing a Community Manifesto to represent the commitments of the people in our ward (Salt River, Observatory, Woodstock, Walmer Estate, University Estate) which will from this election onwards be Ward 92 (you can browse the 2026 ward boundaries here https://mdb-sa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=54113128f5fd4cab8b289be17efb0b3a and check if you are registered to vote, and if so where, here https://www.elections.org.za/pw/voter/voter-information)
The basic idea of a Community Manifesto is that, rather than being made to choose between the various promises candidates might make, we proactively develop our own version of what we as ordinary people in the ward want, and then indicate to all Ward Councillor candidates that we will only vote for them if they agree to sign onto our manifesto. If enough of us participate in this process there is a real potential to impact who ends up representing us, what they prioritise once they have the job, and how they interact with us during their term.
The Umbrella Civic will host a public community meeting on Tuesday 14 April (venue TBD) from 7-9pm where any residents of the ward can attend and give input on what they think should go into the manifesto as regards expectations of the Councillor themselves. Importantly, we will also host another public meeting on Saturday 16 May to discuss what we expect of our next Councillor in relation to how they manage and interact with their Ward Committee, which consists of community representatives who are supposed to work closely with the Councillor to bridge the gap between the Councillor and the rest of us.
If you would like to give input into this process ahead of the public meeting, or instead of attending it, we have created a Google Form for this purpose, and in the hope that it will help us structure the discussion in April and those that follow. You can complete it here, it should only take a few minutes to do so: https://forms.gle/an3q3fKwPw3QZrXa7