Joburg’s deepening decay has set the stage for a fierce and messy local government election battle next year.
One of next year’s fiercest battles will be fought at the polls in Johannesburg when fed-up residents cast their vote at the local government elections.
The City of Joburg is a shadow of its former self, with hijacked buildings dominating the CBD, high levels of crime a regularity, maintenance an after-thought, recurring potholes the norm, traffic lights not working, infrastructure a mess and just general decay a constant frustration for its residents.
Let’s not even mention the problem with billing, nor the water crisis. Simply put: Joburg is broken and it needs fixing.
The non-majority, multiparty legislative is clearly not working and the regular recycling of mayors far from ideal. Something needs to be done to turn it around.
The fight for power in what was once the hub of South Africa will be a bitter contest with many candidates, some new, insisting they can do a better job than what’s being carried out by those in authority right now.
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Well, that’s the general feeling at least. What’s concerning is that many refuse to admit the city is decaying. One such believer – or denier – is former Joburg mayor Amos Masondo, who insists the city is ageing.
Many blame Masondo for the billing crisis that plagued Joburg in his tenure as mayor from 2000 to 2011.
Masondo said: “The cause of decline in the old CBD of Johannesburg was firstly because 1994 was coming and businesses… began moving out of the old CBD, into Midrand, Sandton, Rosebank and all those areas.”
So how do you fix it? He said: “What Joburg needs is good leadership. The ANC collective has done a fairly decent job. Part of what we need is leadership that is about influence… and good influence. The challenge is to seek to change the situation and one of the critical starting points is to build an organisation that is strong, that is able to reach out to voters, and organisation whose values are rooted in the ideas and values of the Freedom Charter.”
The fight for Joburg is about to get messy…
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