Durban -
In an attempt to keep up with technological advances, Durban ratepayers could soon foot the bill for eThekwini councillors to get their hands on pricey Apple iPads.
On Tuesday, eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo said he had borrowed an iPad from city treasurer Krish Kumar after he had been embarrassed by being the only mayor at meetings without one.
Eight years ago, when the council got laptops for all 200 councillors, the motivation was for the city to move away from a paper system.
Then the city spent R1.9 million on the laptops, including internet packages, and said it would help reduce exorbitant printing costs while promoting easy access to information within the council.
But DA exco councillor Tex Collins said on Tuesday that the introduction of the laptops had been unsuccessful and did not help the city on to an electronic footing.
Nxumalo said on Tuesday that iPads were more convenient and mobile than a laptop.
“I can access and respond to e-mails on the go and I believe exco members should have one. It is much better than having a laptop.”
Nxumalo’s comments drew wide smiles from most exco members who agreed that it would help them with their work. Aside from council-funded laptops, exco members, who earn between R45 000 and R50 000 a month, also have cellphone allowances of R1 500.
Ordinary councillors, proportional representative and ward, earn a gross monthly income of R20 000 to R25 000. Nxumalo added that if feasible, iPads could be given to all 200 municipal councillors.
Lilian Develing, the chairwoman of Durban’s Combined Ratepayers’ Association, said the iPad was just another “toy” and would come with a “huge cost factor”.
“They just spend left, right and centre. They all have laptops that most of them do not use. If anything it will be another distraction at meetings because people will play on it and not listen to what is going on.”
The iPads, which cost between R4 000 and R7 500, would set back ratepayers between R800 000 and R1.5m if every councillor received one. There would be additional charges for internet usage which ranges between contract packages from R170 for 2 gigabytes to R300 for 5GB of data a month, depending on the internet provider.
However, Collins said iPads for councillors should not just be written off with a “blanket no”.
“If it will improve service delivery and enhances our ability to communicate, then it would be worthwhile to have them.
“When we got laptops the argument was that documents would be downloadable, but that has not been a success. Laptops are also quite intrusive and often need a power supply to work.”
Minority Front exco councillor Patrick Pillay agreed that iPads could be used to handle issues in “real time”.
“We would be able to deal with situations and send off urgent e-mails to officials on the spot.
“It could be a very effective tool for councillors, it is more convenient to carry around and would be used well.”
The Mercury