Cutting out paper is on the cards for Cape Town council

Municipal councillors have long been ridiculed for carrying piles of documents - most of which they don't have the time to read - to council meetings. In Cape Town things are about to change as the city plans to go paperless and save up to R4-million annually.

Besides the savings‚ it could also save councillors from getting into trouble.

In 2015‚ 72 ANC councillors faced disciplinary action for throwing agendas on the floor‚ singing and toyi-toying during a budget meeting.

Council agendas range between 1000 and 3000 pages. Printing‚ for one sitting‚ can run into R400 000‚ said council speaker Dirk Smit‚ who is adamant about doing away with paper.

According to Smit‚ the city holds between eight and 10 meetings each financial year. Should his paperless project run at 100%‚ the city may save up to R4-million per year.

He said they will have a trial run in October. All agendas for the council meeting will be sent to councillors electronically.

All councillors have laptops and are undergoing training to access the documents.

“It’s going to be a very good financial savings for [ratepayers]‚” said Smit.

He said all political parties in the City of Cape Town were on board with the project after he told them about the cost savings.

It has been almost seven years since the councillors put a lid on bottled water. It was considered a luxury item and has been replaced with tap water.

At the time a statement by the city read: “This decision was motivated by the fact that it costs the city R125‚000 a year to purchase 20888 bottles of water — while the city’s own tap water is of a high quality.”

While Cape Town has glass jugs with water‚ in the Nelson Mandela Bay council that has become too dangerous. Last year the council had to introduce plastic jugs and tumblers after two councillors were injured when jugs were hurled about during a fight.