Well-oiled city entities key to accelerated service delivery

The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Thapelo Amad, emphasised the need for the municipality to work collaboratively with municipal entities to ensure top-class service delivery.

He was addressing the City of Joburg’s AGM at the Roodepoort Theatre on March 1.

“Entities are frontline service delivery agents and their work is critical in ensuring that our residents have access to basic services such as water, sanitation, waste management and electricity among others.

“Being a city of immense potential, a hub of creativity and innovation, a city of diverse culture and tradition and an economic powerhouse that drives growth and development, we owe it to ourselves to continue striving to be a better and more efficient services provider,” he said.

He said the challenges the city faces cannot be ignored.

“Johannesburg like many other cities must deal with a range of complex issues including poverty, inequality unemployment, crime and environmental degradation among many others.”

He said that the scale and complexity of these challenges require the municipality and its entities to work collaboratively and creatively. It was important for the city and entities to harness the strength and resources of all stakeholders including government, businesses, civil society and residents to create what is equitable, sustainable and prosperous for all.

“As you may be aware that the Government of Local Unity took office on January 27. This new administration is facing significant challenges in stabilising our city including addressing the financial and administrative deficiencies that have long plagued the City of Johannesburg,” said Amad.

He said that it is essential that everyone supports the new administration in its effort to stabilise the city government and deliver much-needed services to all residents.

“We must work together to address the critical issues that are affecting our city including issues related to service delivery, housing, infrastructure and public safety. This will require us to make difficult decisions but I am confident that we can rise to this challenge and work collaboratively to build a better future for our city,” he said.

He said that in the face of these challenges, it was important to recognise the critical role that municipal entities play in delivering essential services to residents.

“One of the many contributions we can make in working with our entities is ensuring that they have the resources, tools and support they need to service the city’s residents. We must commit ourselves to the ongoing work of improving our city, building strong and effective partnerships with our entities and delivering essential services.

“Let me reiterate that our municipal entities are of great importance to the success and operations of our city.

Entities have the flexibility and expertise to deliver services efficiently and effectively and they are the most potent agent in our effort to build a city that is responsive to the need of our people,” he said.

Amad said the city should be unapologetic in trying new things and embrace change, as financial stability is essential to the success of the municipal entities’ operations. The city should also be responsible stewards of the public’s trust and funds.

The MMC for Finance in the City of Johannesburg, Dada Sello Morero, said the challenges faced by entities were real.

“We are aware that there are tensions that do arise as when we run and manage the entities and they arise between councillors and board of directors,” he said.

Morero reminded board members that society demanded the delivery of services and proper infrastructure and everyone needed to “ensure we take action as far as delivery of these services is concerned”.