GovChat app to give people direct access to councillors
A new social media platform will put people in direct contact with their local government councillor.
GovChat is an app that allows you to post pictures, comments and queries to the public profile of a ward councillor, and rate their response.
That interaction will be monitored by the Presidency, the Ministry of Co-operative Governance, and the Government Communication Service.
All of the country's roughly 10 000 ward councillors have been introduced to the platform and encouraged to use it.
The app is being made available to government free of charge; it'll raise money through advertising.
GovChat CEO, Eldrid Jordaan, says the intention is to strengthen democracy.
"Government would basically then be able to monitor the response of ward councillors in real time, so we won't need to now wait for the Auditor General's report every 12 months to find out whether there is corruption or what's happening. We can now see this in real time," he said.
You can register for the app at GovChat.org.za