Now we wait for accountability, Mr Mayor

A month after Joburg mayor Dada Morero said there were no potholes in ward 90, he arrived in Hyde Park on Thursday with hundreds of workers, fleets of trucks and tons of pothole-fixing equipment.

This time he said there were 1 149 potholes in the ward. As Ward 90 councillor, I earlier mocked his “no potholes” assertion but would not have done so at Thursday’s briefing, had I been given the opportunity.

Hosts should not insult guests. I was invited to sit at the table with the mayor for his media address.

Before sitting, I offered him a welcoming hand and asked (off-mic) if he was sure he wanted me there, as there was a crush of seemingly eminent persons eyeing the seats.

“Yes,” he said, “I want you to hold us to account.” His short address ended similarly, “residents can hold us to account”.

Some surprise then, when my request to address the gathering was turned down by his colleagues on the grounds that “the mayor speaks for all of us”.

What kind of accountability is that, when the only directly elected public representative of the ward 90 community is not allowed to use a publicly funded microphone at a publicly funded event where accountability is promoted?

ALSO READ: WATCH: Joburg mayor sets out to fix potholes

Ward councillors are the only directly elected public representatives in South Africa. In Johannesburg, half of the 270 councillors are ward councillors.

The other 135 are PR councillors, drawn from party lists. Mayor Morero (ANC) and Transport MMC Kenny Kunene (Patriotic Alliance) are PR councillors.

They are accountable firstly to their political parties. They were not directly elected by residents. How can we hold the mayor to account?

When people use the word accountability, they usually don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

It’s vaguely comforting to talk about accountability but in a country where politicians and top policemen get away with murder and grand corruption, accountability is a chimera.

In his address, Morero said that by the end of August there would be “no potholes here”. He also said all stormwater drains would be cleared. Streetlights and traffic signals would be working.

These are significant undertakings and it was not always clear whether he was talking about ward 90 or all 12 wards in Region B.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s housing backlog needs R60bn and less red tape – Morero

In the list distributed during his visit, there was considerable jumbling of wards and suburbs. In order to hold the mayor and the Joburg Roads Agency accountable, it will be best to have clear, consolidated lists, which do not exist.

For proper tracking and accountability, the city should invest in technology which can detect and relay information on the exact positioning and dimensions of potholes.

This equipment could be fitted to wide-roaming vehicles such as Pikitup trucks and we could have updated records.

There’s no chance such a set-up will be in place by the end of August, so we’ll have to do our best using older methods.

Mayor Morero is hereby invited to a public meeting in early September, (venue to be confirmed) to report back on the Region B “War on potholes”.

I’ll bring my own public address system. We know Morero’s counting has improved since last month.

Now for accountability.

NOW READ: Joburg mayor Dada Morero survives motion of no confidence