In a first for the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality, one of its councillors has pledged to donate her entire salary to help uplift the community.
Following a by-election in February where she emerged victorious, Lorraine Smith Johnson, the new Ward 5 councillor in KwaNojoli, formerly Somerset East, has not used a cent of her salary for own use.
Since taking office about two months ago, Johnson said she’s invested her entire salary into community-oriented projects, like safety initiatives and hunger-relief projects.
Johnson is a 60-year-old former principal who retired last year.
She told Algoa FM News that she does not regard herself as the hero in the story, but it is the people who help her in improving the lives of others.
Johnson also said she also pays, out of her own pocket, the stipends of a group of volunteers who are part of the Community Watch Forum.
“The hero in the story is not me.
It’s my team,” the councillor said.
“Let me make an example, who in this day and age will go out at night, in the cold, throughout the night trying to keep us all safe?
“I’m sleeping in my bed – I’m too old to go out with them… but they are offering their time to patrol this area – in fact, the whole town,” she said.
A colleague of Johnson’s, DA councillor in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality Jonathan Martin said what she’s doing is nothing short of amazing.
Johnson explains why she accepted the DA's offer.
“I just thought that this could be a better opportunity to get closer to the community and secondly, and more importantly, to earn some money that I can give back to the community in the form of projects [and] in the form of uplifting the community.
But not just in Ward 5, but [KwaNojoli] in general.
And lastly, it’s important to give people back their dignity,” said councillor Johnson.
