Makana Municipality’s new website (makana.gov.za) is clearly sexier than its recently departed older sibling.
Makana Municipality’s new website (makana.gov.za) is clearly sexier than its recently departed older sibling.
The site was officially launched at the most recent sitting of council on 13 August by Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter who described it as “a work in progress”.
The new site gets an A for its improved aesthetic. Gone is the overwhelmingly dreary maroon and red template, and the new layout seems more organised and less cluttered.
The home page is clearly tourism brochure-inspired, full of appealing images of Grahamstown’s key attractions. The site is also packed with a host of biographical information about the town’s history, festivals and educational institutions.
It even lists Grahamstown’s most-consumed media. Do we really need to know who’s reading what in Grahamstown? Anyway, I digress.
The site made a good start, but much like the water supply in Grahamstown, the tap of compliments quickly runs dry as one continues to navigate through it.
Yes, the website does well by making various reports, budgets and policy documents available to the public. But, these are often beyond the grasp of most of us mere mortals.
Where is the information relating to current service delivery matters? The site’s noticeboard and press releases remain barren, and the service interruption notices and newsletters section carries posts from June and July respectively. This despite the town’s recent on-going water, sewage and housing sagas. One would think constant updates in these areas would receive priority.
Then, the municipal events section only has posts from events that took place in 2011. Surely something, anything, must have happened since then.
On the bright side, some of this year’s speeches from the Mayor are available for you to download.
One potentially positive new addition is the inclusion of a customer care area, which allows you to aim your grievances, (or compliments if that’s your thing), directly at the municipality, as opposed to emailing specific people or departments. It forms part of a municipal effort to be more transparent and foster good e-governance.
Time will tell how effective this addition will be.
Ultimately, a lot more ‘work’ needs to be done to achieve that elusive ‘progress’. It’s only then that the new site will become more than just a more attractive package of the same old stuff.
