Joburg welcomes establishment of Presidential Johannesburg Working Group
The co-ordinated support to the city will be over the next two years.
The two-day cabinet oversight visit to Gauteng and Joburg led by President Cyril Ramaphosa is a landmark initiative to support and address the city’s most urgent challenges.
The support was prompted by the mayor’s letter in February, reaching out to the president for technical and political support, knowing the need to reimagine Joburg in the context of rapid urbanisation compounded by infrastructure, service delivery and financial sustainability challenges the city faces.
Central to this support is establishing the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group to provide co-ordinated support to the city over the next two years.
The Working Group will focus on seven areas critical to stabilising and revitalising Johannesburg:
• Governance and financial sustainability – Restoring political and administrative stability, strengthening capacity and securing financial health through support from the National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
• Electricity and energy – Driving the City Power turnaround plan to upgrade infrastructure, reduce losses and introduce alternative energy solutions.
• Safety and security – Strengthening law enforcement and urban safety, improving co-ordination between the JMPD and the SAPS and robust urban management.
• Inner city rejuvenation – Revitalising the historic CBD through better safety, infrastructure renewal, housing development and economic growth.
• Water and sanitation – Implementing the Johannesburg Water turnaround strategy to safeguard water supply, reduce losses and improve service delivery.
• Infrastructure (roads, transport, waste management) – Addressing maintenance backlogs, upgrading critical networks and improving waste collection and public spaces.
• Human settlements and social development – Accelerating housing delivery, upgrading informal settlements and improving living conditions for vulnerable communities.
Following the president’s engagement with city leadership, stakeholders from business, civil society, labour and academia held an afternoon session to raise their concerns and offer solutions. The stakeholders’ inputs reaffirmed the importance of public-private partnerships to ensure a shared commitment of Johannesburg’s renewal.
The city welcomes the president’s vital call to urgently resolve long-standing challenges, including financial sustainability, inner-city renewal, urban safety and promoting digital and economic growth, including the preparations for G20 and U20 summits that will leave visitors and residents with a lasting legacy of Johannesburg.
As President Ramaphosa affirmed, “Johannesburg matters to the future of SA. This Working Group is about turning commitment into action and making Joburg a city that works for all its people.”
