GEORGE NEWS - Almost three years ago, on 8 May 2020, the Garden Route District Municipality held its first council meeting via Zoom* - easy, sassy and portable.
Reporters could view the proceedings from their cellphones, wherever they where at that particular time. Later on, the meetings were live-streamed from YouTube, which gave everyone the opportunity to "listen in".
At the end of January this year, GRDM reverted back to in-person meetings at their council chambers in York Street, while the George council is still functioning fully digitally.
According to GRDM council secretary Adv Sinekaya Maqekeni, load-shedding and other power outages cause corruption of digital data and loss of video content when it occurs in the middle of a meeting.
With the GRDM's fourth council meeting this year at their chambers on Tuesday 28 March, some councillors still joined virtually. "Therefore it is not correct that council meeting is 'back in chambers'," said Maqekeni.
"However, councillors and members of the public are encouraged to join physically to avoid problems and many complaints that come with load-shedding/connection problems."
With the GRDM's fourth council meeting this year the majority of the councillors and officials met in the chambers in York Street, while some opted to join digitally. However, the public can no longer view the proceedings on YouTube live. Photo: Michelle Pienaar
Trendsetters
During the pandemic the district municipality was the trendsetter with its virtual meetings.
The George council followed shortly afterwards in June 2020 when it announced that all its meetings would "for the foreseeable future" be held on electronic platforms. George mostly used MS Teams for its council meetings.
When the subject of the digital meetings surfaced last year with a request from the PBI to continue meetings in the council chambers, George Mayor Leon van Wyk said that the existing council chambers on the second floor of the main municipal building are not large enough for a full council meeting, with the attendance of all the councillors and the required officials.
It also poses a danger in the event of a fire, since the chambers do not have the required number of fire exits for the number of people present at the meetings.
With them currently live-streaming on Facebook, every Georgian has the opportunity to inform themselves on the latest developments in the George Council.
Like old times. Photo: Michelle Pienaar
Load-shedding and live broadcast
Maqekeni said the GRDM has not done away with digital meetings. "Sometimes these platforms are not available due to technical or connection problems. At times, due to load-shedding the GRDM's engagements online become interrupted. Whenever load-shedding kicks in, the broadcasts are stopped automatically.
It is possible for a video to be lost altogether if there is load-shedding during a live broadcast to YouTube."
"If the power outage occurs while the video is being recorded or processed, the video file may become corrupted or lost, and it may not be possible to recover it. Similarly, if the power goes out during the live broadcast, the video stream may be interrupted, and it may not be possible to resume the broadcast once the power comes back on."
Although space is limited, members of the public are allowed to join a GRDM council meeting in person. They have to send a request to Speaker Georlene Wolmarans at gwolmarans@gardenroute.gov.za.
* A digital application frequently used during lockdown that enables communication from different venues.
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