faced with a growing number of service delivery protests, the SA Local Government Association is to introduce a smart communications tool that will enable councillors and ratepayers to access information at the click of a button.Govchat will also allow councillors to respond quickly to issues raised by residents.Salga believes that the tool will help councillors deal with some of the problems that have led to the increase in service delivery protests, many of them violent, across the country.Tahir Sema, Salga's national spokesman, said the organisation was worried that a lack of communication created problems in communities.Sema said Govchat would assist in bridging the communications gap and enable councillors to interact more effectively with ratepayers."Govchat will assist the 10000 councillors now undergoing training to communicate better with ratepayers."Salga began its councillor induction programme yesterday. It is intended to orientate councillors, many of them elected to municipal office for the first time in the recent polls, on their roles and responsibilities.Sema said that Salga's objective was to transform local government by building "good governance and professionalising the sector".As South Africa continues to be engulfed by service delivery protests it remains to be seen whether the new crop of councillors will be able to respond effectively to residents' concerns.Sema said that, as a result of innovation and the provision of better tools to councillors, Salga hoped there would be fewer service delivery protests.Municipal IQ, which collects data on service delivery protests in all municipalities, said they had become more frequent recently.Statistics released by the police on Friday point to a surge in public protests, with the number of violent protests increasing from 1226 in 2011-2012 to 3542 in 2015-2016...